What Do You Think: Did Fight Over 'Country' vs 'Rap' Cause Work-related Injury?

Ridgeland, MS (WorkersCompensation.com) – An employee generally has a compensable injury if the injury arises out of his work duties.

But what if the immediate cause of the injury is a fight with a coworker? In one case, an acoustics grid worker was working at a prison. There was a policy at the worksite that if anyone finds the music playing in a shared work area offensive, it must be turned off.

Two other workers were playing Christian rap music. The grid worker argued with the other workers about their musical preferences and touted country music, while allegedly deriding Christian rap.

A fight eventually ensued between the grid worker and one of the other two workers. The workers’ stories differed in many respects, but the fight may have involved a drill hammer, a chokehold, kicking, and the grid worker’s threat to one of the other workers to come down off his ladder and insult country music one more time.

All three workers agreed, however, that by the time the fight ensued, the music was no longer playing. The grid worker allegedly injured his knee during the fight and required surgery.

The workers’ compensation commission denied the grid worker benefits, stating the injury did not arise out of his job, and the worker appealed.

An injury is only compensable if it arises out of and in the course of employment. An assault arises out of and in the course of employment if it grows out of a quarrel whose subject matter is related to the work.

Did knee injury occur ‘in the course of employment?’

A. Yes. The argument happened at work while the grid worker was performing his job.

B. No. The fight was not related to the worker’s job duties.

If you chose B, you sided with the court in Hollis v. Acoustics, Inc., No. 2021-WC-01261-COA. (Miss. Ct. App. 09/27/22), which held that the grid worker’s injury bore no relation to his work.

The court pointed out that, in the case of an assault, it’s not enough that a worker is at a worksite doing his usual duties. Rather, the job itself must contribute to the cause of the injury.

Here, the grid worker did not become involved in the quarrel because of the way he was performing his work. Nor did the fight concern possession of work tools. In fact, the fight was not even over what music would be played. Rather, all three men who were present at

the time agreed that the dispute was about musical genre preferences, and that the music was not playing at the time.

"A quarrel regarding musical genre preference is not a subject matter that is considered related to work, and thus is not compensable,” the court wrote.

Accordingly, the court affirmed the decision of the workers’ compensation commission.

This feature does not provide legal advice.

Forms, email updates, legal, regulatory, and compliance information from Mississippi and 52 other jurisdictions across the U.S. can be found on WorkCompResearch.com.

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