I don't suppose anyone here is an expert in workers' comp?

I have some experience. What do you need to know?

Lee may know something about this. Or not. It's been a while since she worked in that department.

It has, and mostly what I learned was "California has some whack ass laws".

I also have a migraine, and am taking a sick day, but that's not a WC thing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HIL!!!

In case anyone was worried that I injured myself sitting at my desk.

Which is not outside the realm of possibility for some of us.

So my research (supplementing some sad-ass documents from the clients) says that for an injury to be compensable, it must "arise out of" and "occur within" the course and scope of employment.

I've defined "arise out of" as "meaning that the injury is caused by some circumstance of employment" and "occur within" as "meaning that the employee was performing a work-related activity at the time of the injury."

Is that more or less correct? It strikes me as a pretty fine distinction.

I know my boss got workman's comp when she fell walking across the lobby of the building and broke her wrist. I mean, I guess the injury was caused by the circumstance of her walking in her place of employment, and by work-related activity I suppose walking into the building is work-related. But in my experience workman's comp is pretty broad, and your definition sounds narrower than I'd expect.

Did you tell him about the pictures of naked women on the conference room walls? Did you tell him they gave you free porn?

I may have mentioned the free porn and I also may have used the phrase, "seriously, dad, boobies everywhere."

Happy birthday, Hil!!

In other good news, an anonymous donor has given $100 million (yes, that's $100 million) to the town of Erie, PA:

Mike Batchelor invited the heads of 46 charities into his downtown office for one-on-one meetings to personally deliver the news. Nearby, on a small table, sat a box of tissues.

And then he proceeded: A donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation, and all of the charities would receive a share.

That was when the tears began to flow -- and the mystery began -- in this struggling old industrial city of 102,000 on Lake Erie, where the donor is known only as "Anonymous Friend."

My main experience with workers' comp was my mom's fall in the parking lot of her company back in 1979. She strained her shoulder, was given some medication for it, and came down with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome as the allergic reaction she had to the medicine. WC paid for the three months she spent in the hospital.

WC is broader than that. Typically you can get compensated for most foreseeable injuries that occurs at the workplace, and in some cases, commuting to the workplace.

I know the definition of a "work-related injury" is pretty broad. I don't need to detail every possible case. This is just an overview that mostly covers how people will report claims to the company and the third-party claims administrator.