Workers' compensation judge rules against retail giant

A workers’ compensation administrative law judge had the broad authority to issue orders to ensure the proper adjudication of each claim and to defer issues that the trier of fact decided were not ripe for adjudication, a recent ruling said.

Walmart – the defendant in the case of Castro vs. Walmart; Ace American Insurance Company, adjusted by Sedgwick – employed the applicant. The applicant claimed injury to her back and left knee on July 7, 2018.

Walmart accepted the claim as compensable but argued that it terminated the applicant for stopping a customer from leaving the store, which violated company policy, and that the applicant had at least two other incidents of misconduct.

The workers’ compensation judge held that the applicant’s termination from employment was not “in good faith.” The judge made the following findings:

• The testimonies of the applicant and another employee, who acted as a witness for the employer, were both credible
• However, the testifying employee was not a witness to the incident leading to the applicant’s termination
• No witness other than the applicant testified regarding the incident involving the customer
• It was necessary to defer several issues, including temporary disability, so that the record could be developed some more

Walmart filed a petition seeking reconsideration. It argued that it had good cause to terminate the applicant and that it was premature for the workers’ compensation...

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