How Would Governor Rauner's "Causation" Requirement Change Benefits in Worker’s Compensation Cases?

Gov. Rauner (R. Illinois) wants to remove "course of employment" and replace it with work "causation" in worker's compensation cases. To see what this abstract change means, consider that an Arkansas appeals court awarded death benefits to the family of a truck driver killed near a road construction project. The court said he was on company time when he was hit by a vehicle and killed. In other words, he was in the "course of employment." The driver clocked in at 6:30 a.m. and picked up a load of concrete, but arrived a few minutes early to the worksite. He drove to a nearby convenience store to buy coffee and was killed while he crossed the street. The court rejected the company’s argument that the driver was not killed while performing employment services because he was not in his truck or on the jobsite. Under Gov. Rauner's standard, there would be no death benefit in this case. See Razorback Concrete v. Perkins. http://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/court-of-appeals/2015/cv-15-59.html