Alert: Maine WC Board Rules on Apportionment in Context of Gradual Injury

In City of Portland v. Moses, WCB App. Div. 16-4 (February 22, 2016) the employee, a firefighter and EMT, alleged a gradual work injury from exposure to traumatic events in the course of employment. From 2002 until 2010 he worked full-time for the City of Portland. He also worked as a volunteer firefighter for Casco beginning in 2004. In 2007, he began volunteering in Raymond. He continued working for these towns concurrently until 2009, after which he worked only for Portland. A Decree in 2011 found that he sustained a gradual PTSD injury in July 2010 while working for Portland. Portland then brought Petitions for Award and Apportionment against Casco and Raymond. The Board found that although the employee’s prior work with Casco and Raymond contributed to his PTSD, Portland failed to prove that the employee sustained a work injury during these prior employments. The Appellate Division affirmed, finding that the ALJ properly concluded that the employee suffered a single, gradual injury for which the City of Portland alone is legally responsible.