Comp awarded for computer-bound worker’s death in N.J.

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Sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time is not the healthiest way to make a living.

And with more employees being tied to their computers, it was only a matter of time before courts started grappling with workers’ compensation claims addressing the unique injury issues of those with sedentary jobs.

Last week, a New Jersey appeals court decided that survivors benefits could be awarded in a workers’ compensation case involving the death of an AT&T employee who suffered a pulmonary embolism after working long hours in front of a computer at home.

Cathleen Renner attained the position of a salaried manager in the course her 25-year career with AT&T. Although her job was nominally 9-5, Cathleen often found herself working long hours in front of a computer at home in order to meet various deadlines.

On the evening of Sept. 24, 2007, Cathleen began working on a project in her home office.

Although it’s unclear whether she actually worked through the night, the undisputed evidence shows that she sent an e-mail to a coworker at 12:26 a.m. and was at her desk when her son woke up at 7 a.m.

Around 9 a.m., Cathleen complained to a coworker of not feeling well, but insisted on completing the project from home. She finished the job around 10:30 a.m.

Shortly afterwards, it became clear that Cathleen was suffering a medical emergency. At 11:34 a.m., she called 911 because she could not breathe. Cathleen was dead when she arrived at the hospital. The cause of death was a pulmonary embolism.

Cathleen’s husband, James, filed for survivors benefits under New Jersey’s workers’ compensation statute. He claimed that his wife’s death was compensable under the standards governing cardiovascular injury.

AT&T argued that Cathleen’s death was primarily the result of risk factors unrelated to her employment, including a sedentary lifestyle, obesity and birth control medication.

A workers’ compensation judge concluded that Cathleen’s fatal blood clot was primarily due to her inactivity at work and awarded James survivors benefits.

The New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed that award last week.

The court framed the dispositive question as being “whether Cathleen’s lack of movement at work was more severe than her lack of movement in her daily living, and whether the inactivity at work caused her pulmonary embolism in a material way.”

It found that substantial, credible evidence supported the conclusion “that Cathleen’s inactivity caused stasis of the blood resulting in the formation of a blood clot as opposed to one of Cathleen’s other risk factors.”

The court took particular note of the testimony of James’ expert, Dr. Leon H. Waller.

It observed that Waller opined that “the unorganized character of the clot indicates that it was fresh and had formed recently. Waller further deduced that the clot formed most likely five to seven hours before her death because Cathleen felt pain in her leg at approximately 7:00 a.m. Thus, the time she worked — throughout the night — coincided within the clot’s formation period.”

On the other hand, the court said that AT&T’s expert “admitted that ‘it would certainly be less likely’ for Cathleen to have a pulmonary embolism had she not been working that day. Therefore, sufficient, credible evidence exists to support the finding that Cathleen’s prolonged inactivity while working caused her pulmonary embolism by a material degree.” (Renner v. AT&T)