Q: An employee has a heart attack on the job and neglected to advise his employer of his heart condition can they sue?
Employee is a truck driver and had a heart attack while driving. Suing employer for workers compensation.
A:
If the employee can prove that the heart attack was caused by or contributed to by his work, s/he may have a valid worker's compensation claim. Worker's compensation is a no-fault system, and generally, an employer cannot sue her employee for failing to disclose a heart condition unless the employee was required to report the condition and willfully failed to do so to the employer's prejudice.
Particularly for truck drivers, good health is required to maintain a Class A driver's license. The employer may be required by law to obtain truthful information from its drivers in order to maintain the required safety of the public on the highways. So, a willful failure of an employee to disclose such information to the employer could become problematic for the driver.
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