Opinion ID: 1756883
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Alleged Injury and the Date

Text: There is conflicting evidence concerning the date of Inglis's alleged injury. Inglis first contacted the Bureau in early March of 1978 while he was hospitalized at St. Alexius for back problems. On March 9, 1978, a Bureau field representative, Bill Mitzel, visited Inglis in the hospital and helped him complete his claim form. On the claim form the date of injury is listed as February 13, 1978. The injury is described as follows: Putting re-bar in place, bent over to tie re-bar into place my back locked. Had been lifting bar prior to that. Mitzel's report of his visit with Inglis states that Inglis was injured on the same day that he started work and that he worked until February 15, 1978. At his hearing, Inglis testified that he was injured on February 16, 1978. He said that his injury occurred at midnight, just before quitting time, while he was lifting a re-bar with three or four other men. Inglis stated, I just picked up a piece [of re-bar]... and I got a sharp pain in my back and it started shooting down my leg. Except for completing his shift, Inglis testified that he did not work after his injury. At the hearing, Inglis offered an explanation for the discrepancies between his testimony concerning the date of the injury (February 16) and the date listed in his claim form and Mitzel's report (February 13, the same day he started work). Inglis explained that he did have some pain on his first day of work but that he just kept on working, having surmised that it's just a regular backache. He continued, day after day it just got worse and worse; and then the day on or about the 16th, wherever it was there when I went to lift, that's when it really hurt my back. After his claim had been dismissed, Inglis stopped by the Bureau's office and informed them that the date of injury was February 16. He later telephoned the Bureau and insist[ed] that he injured his back on February 13, 1978. A letter from Bechtel to the Bureau, questioning the validity of Inglis's claim, states that it had no indication of [Inglis's] injury until receiving the claim form on March 14, 1978. This letter identifies February 15, 1978 as the day of injury. It also recites Inglis's work history at Bechtel: he was employed from February 13 to February 22, 1978 and worked for three days during this period (February 13, 9 hours; February 15, 9 hours; and February 16, 10 hours). Mr. Inglis was terminated because of absenteeism.