WALSH Best Test When Multi-Jurisdictions Involved
WALSH is best test for multi-jurisdictions of workers comp. I have posted on this subject in the past. I thought it would be good to revisit the subject after I read about a Tennessee employer that tried to have North Carolina apply Tennessee subrogation laws.
The WALSH Test is still the tried-and-true way to decide which jurisdiction’s laws would apply in the case of – for example – a truck driver who was injured in Arizona, whose home was in Iowa. Which state has claim jurisdiction – Arizona, Iowa, or a different state?
I have seen the WALSH Test applied to a case by a Workers Compensation judge many years ago. One of the carriers that trained me was where I became familiar with the test. As a claims adjuster of long ago, I handled many claims that involved injured workers who lived in one state and worked in another.
OK, so let us look at the truck driver. The implied caveat is that I know each state has its own laws on multi-jurisdictions. OK, so here is the test –
Worked – what state did the employee work the most in overall?
Accident – place of accident?
Lived – where is their home?
Salaried – where is the employee paid from each time?
Hired – where was the contract of hire initiated?
such as long-haul truck drivers are usually the toughest cases to make a determination. Using the trucker example:
Worked – multi-state (not a determining factor)
Accident – ArizonaTransportation workers
Lived – Iowa
Salaried – Paid out of Texas
Hired – Oklahoma
Would anyone like to take a guess and email me at [email protected] or leave a comment? I will give my opinion next week.
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