One of the coverages that I provide for my clients in Missouri and Illinois is workers compensation. Recently, I have become aware of something called the "positional risk doctrine" and I am not exactly sure what it means. Would you enlighten me on the subject and let me know if it is something that I need to know to make sure that my clients are well served?

Missouri Subscriber

The positional risk doctrine is a legal theory relating to workers compensation; it puts forth the idea that an injury to an employee may be said to arise out of his employment if the injury would not have occurred but for the fact that the conditions or obligations of the employment placed the employee in the position where he was injured by a neutral force (a force neither personal to the employee nor associated distinctly with the employment). This doctrine affects workers compensation by allowing compensation benefits in a situation where they might otherwise be denied.