When an injury or illness is due to a worker's employment, the employee may be entitled to compensation. During the hearing to determine eligibility for workers' compensation, a judge will listen carefully to your case and review the facts leading up to the incident. Many factors can play into a successful claim, even some which may not seem related to your actual employment. Arizona workers who have been affected by an on-the-job injury or illness may be interested in the following case.

A state Court of Appeals ruled that two workers were rightly denied workers' compensation after an accident at Bull Shoals Landing, a landing on the lake where the men were employed. The accident in question occurred in November 2007 when the two men tried to open a barrel of marine oil with an acetylene torch. An explosion engulfed both men in flames, which they extinguished by jumping into the lake.

The men were originally denied workers' compensation benefits because of alleged marijuana use. While the men admitted to using marijuana in the past, they said that they had not used the day of the accident. A coworker also testified that they did not appear impaired when he saw them that day.

Their boss testified that he had shown one of the men how to open the barrels using a pneumatic air chisel. He had never approved the use of an acetylene torch to open a barrel and had never witnessed it done.

An administrative law judge ruled the accident and resulting injuries were caused by the men rushing to complete a task and not because of drug use. The commission, however, overturned that ruling based on the fact that they felt the men's testimony was not credible.

The coworker who had seen the men that day saw them about 90 minutes before the accident. The commission believed that the men could have used marijuana during that time. The Court of Appeals supported that decision in their affirmation of the commission's decision.

The decision to uphold the ruling was not unanimous, however. Three out of nine judges voted to overturn the commission's decision. The judges who wanted to overturn the ruling said in the minority opinion that there was too much conjecture in the case and that there was no evidence of impairment or drug use related to the accident.

Source: Arkansas News, "Court: Marijuana use cause to deny workers' compensation," John Lyon, Jan. 11, 2012