Once eligibility under the Black Lung Benefits Act has been established, a totally disabled miner will receive benefit payments equal to a portion of the monthly pay rate for federal employees. Should the miner succumb to the pneumoconiosis disease, his surviving widow will be entitled to the same monthly benefit payment. If the miner has no surviving widow, his single surviving child will also receive the same monthly benefit amount. The benefit amount increases incrementally with each subsequent surviving child. Finally, if there is no surviving widow and no surviving children, the miner's dependent parents or siblings will receive a monthly benefit amount at the children's rate. The receipt of payments pursuant to workers' compensation or unemployment insurance may reduce these beneficiary amounts.
Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by the inhalation of, ingestion of, or skin exposure to a spore-forming bacteria. Though it is most often spread through contact with animals or animal products, anthrax is most widely known for its use as an agent of biological warfare.
Responsibility for the payment of workers' compensation benefits is a joint affair when one employer loans its employee to another employer. If the employee is a party to a contract for hire with the third-party employer, the work performed by the employee is principally for the third-party employer, and the third-party employer controls the details of the employee's work, the third-party employer will be held responsible for workers' compensation benefits should the employee become injured. The element of control is a substantial factor is determining the employment relationship between the parties.
When an employee engages in misconduct, his receipt of workers' compensation benefits can be jeopardized depending on whether such misconduct constituted a deviation from his course of employment. If the employee has deviated from the course of employment, and is then injured, he will generally be denied benefits. Prohibited conduct is a marker for misconduct. It is only that prohibited conduct concerning the employee's fundamental job for which he was employed that will affect compensation eligibility. Even though prohibited, conduct that merely violates the way or means that an employee uses to accomplish his job duties is still within the course of his employment.
An employee injured in the course of employment is entitled to workers' compensation benefits. However, compensability may remain unaffected even if the injury occurred when the employee deviated from his specific job duties to engage in an activity that was purely personal in nature and solely for his own comfort. The personal comfort doctrine allows employees to slightly deviate from their job duties, within the usual time and space parameters of their employment, without losing workers' compensation protection. It is generally understood that employees should be able to tend to their physical needs, such as using the restroom, getting a drink of water, or even taking a break to smoke, during the course of their employment.
