A Federal Express Corp. employee who says she suffered cumulative trauma from years of physically demanding work is not entitled to medical and disability workers compensation benefits because she never gave proper notice of her injuries to her employer, the Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims ruled Wednesday.
The court denied the petition for workers comp benefits filed by Shalanda White, who said she suffered repetitive motion injuries to both of her knees.
Ms. White sought an initial diagnosis for her injuries in October 2020 and later underwent an imaging scan and sought additional treatment.
During a hearing, Ms. White testified that she informed her manager about the injuries but was told to wait for the results of an MRI before submitting a workers comp claim.
The court ruled that Ms. White had to give notice to her employer within 15 days of when she “knows or reasonably should have known” that she suffered a work injury.
Ms. White didn’t give notice until late December 2020.
The court wrote that while Ms. White informed her supervisor of the knee injuries, she failed to tell him that the injury was work-related.
