Minnesota statute requires that all compensable work injuries must "arise out of and in the course of employment".  The "arising out of" requirement is a "legal causation" test.  For an injury to arise out of employment there must be a causal connection between the employment and the injury.  Minnesota Workers' Compensation courts have developed over the years different theories to try to measure whether a sufficient causal connection between employment and the injury exists.  Five major legal tests arise with consistency:  peculiar risk, increased risk, actual risk, positional risk, and proximate causation.

Increased Risk Test:  The increased risk test has been found by the Minnesota Supreme Court to have been satisfied If the injury follows "as a natural incident of the work...as a result of the exposure occasioned by the nature of the employment."  Foley v. Honeywell, Inc., 488 N.W.2d 268, 271 (Minn. 1992).   An example of an injury that could be found to be compensable due to an an "increased risk" would be if an employee developed asthma after being continually exposed to a dusty work environment.   The theory of compensability would be that the employee having to be exposed to the dust while at work increased the risk of the employee developing asthma.

​Therefore, If you think you have an injury that is related to your work, feel free to contact either John Bailey or myself  to discuss the circumstances of your injury.

Gillette injuries arise from minute repetitive trauma which result in a compensable work injury when their cumulative effect is sufficiently serious to disable the employee from further work..The term Gillette came from the Minnesota Supreme Court case, Gillette v. Harold, Inc.  

In most Gillette cases, the repetitive trauma occurs over a significant period of time.  An example of a Gillette injury would be a person whose job duties required a lot of repetitive overhead lifting.  Often times, a person will develop shoulder pain that develops over a period of time, until the pain becomes intolerable and requires the person to seek medical attention.  For example, if it was determined that the person had a torn rotator cuff, the person's work duties may very well be a substantial contributing factor that caused the rotator cuff tear.  Therefore, the rotator cuff tear would then be a compensable work injury.

​If you have an injury that has developed over time and you feel that it may be the result of your work duties, feel free to contact either John or myself and we would be happy to discuss your injury with you.  Thank you.