In Managing Workers’ Comp, Keep Emotions In Check

At the NWCDN Annual Conference in Nashville last week, a presenter shared a personal story about how their emotions once got the best of them when handling a particular claim. The speaker, whom I will not identify here, told the attendees about a claim that landed on their desk early in their career.

In the course of the investigation, they learned the injured worker was, in their words, ‘A really bad man.’ And what they meant by that was he was a convicted sexual predator who had done some pretty heinous things in his life.

For our claims professional it became personal, and they resolved that this evil person would never see a dime out of this particular insurance company.

There was no way they would reward such a terrible person with any compensation for this injury. They dug in their heels and fought the claim.

Except, as you may expect, the courts did not see it that way. The work injury was unrelated to his status as a predator.