Under The Influence Of The Intoxication Defense

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the use of drugs or alcohol at work significantly increases the the risk of workplace accidents. With this in mind, sooner or later every major employer will inevitably need to address a workers’ compensation claim involving some kind of intoxication.

All states have some defense available to employers when an injured employee is found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of an alleged incident or accident.

Most states recognize a separate defense for intoxication. However, for a minority of states, there is no distinct defense for intoxication, but employers can rely upon two broader defenses: the injuries were caused by the employee’s willful or intentional misconduct; the employee’s voluntary intoxication took them out of the course of their employment, rendering the accident not compensable.