March 17, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Workers' Compensation Denied to "Hero"
Article provided by Freeburn & Hamilton, P.C. Please visit our web site at
http://www.pa-injurylawyer.com/.
Nigel Haskett was a minimum wage employee when he risked his life to help a woman being beaten in the McDonald's restaurant where he worked. Haskett, 21, was shot several times, according to police, after he ejected a customer hitting a woman in the face inside the restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Now the fast food giant has denied workers' compensation benefits to Haskett, who spent over a month in the hospital following the 2008 shooting. Haskett's attorney, Philip M. Wilson, told KARK TV that his client only wants reimbursement for his medical bills. Haskett has undergone three abdominal surgeries since the shooting, with medical bills over $300,000.
In a letter to the Workers' Compensation Commission, McDonald's insurer stated, "We have denied this claim in its entirety as it is our opinion that Mr. Haskett's injuries did not arise out of or within the course and scope of his employment."
Said Wilson, "I think this is an insurance company doing what they do best -- trying to deny claims any way they can."
The judge in criminal proceedings for the alleged gunman called Haskett a hero, as did the owner of the McDonald's franchise where Haskett worked.
"This act of heroism is something we try not to encourage for all the obvious reasons," owner Ray Nosler told KARK shortly after the shooting.
In a letter to the Arkansas Times, Wilson wrote, "McDonald's position now is that during [a] 30-minute orientation Mr. Haskett and the other individuals going through the orientation were supposedly told that in the event of a robbery or anything like a robbery . . . not to be a hero and simply call 911. Mr. Haskett denies that anything like that was even mentioned during orientation or at any time during his employment with McDonald's."
Haskett and his attorney are appealing the denial of workers' compensation benefits.
"Breaking up a fight on the premises, if McDonald's wants to argue that that's not advancing their interests directly or indirectly, let them do it," Wilson said. "I don't think they're going to win."
Link to YouTube video of the KARK TV news report on the denial of workers' compensation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwhw-Inji0k---
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