Injuries to workers can occur in many ways, but few employers expect such injuries to come out of an employee's nightmare. When that happens, is the injury covered by workers' compensation? According to the Court of Appeals of Arkansas, the answer is no. But why?
In November 2015, Shawn Hansen was employed by the City of Siloam Springs, Ark., as a firefighter and an EMT. Hansen worked 24-hour shifts. During his shifts, he was required to stay on premises unless he was performing a work-related errand or activity. Because of the 24-hour scheduling scheme, the city provided sleeping arrangements and encouraged the employees to sleep during nighttime hours.
On one such shift, at around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, Hansen awoke from a bad dream in which he believed spiders were crawling all over him. During his sleep-based stupor, he jumped from his bed and suffered a fracture of the long bone on the outside of his left foot that connects to his little toe (the left fifth metatarsal).
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