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Injured worker can not receive workman's compensation if they are injured because of intoxication or drug use.

If an injured worker is intoxicated or under the influence of controlled substances and if that intoxication or influence of controlled substances caused the injury, there can be no recovery for the injured or killed worker.

This does not mean that the worker who was intoxicated cannot recover for a workers' compensation claim. It is only when the employer can prove that the intoxication caused the injury that the employer can avoid paying the worker’s claim.

The issue of whether a worker’s intoxication was the cause of the injury is a fact issue to be decided by the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

One illustrative case involved an employee who was injured when his blood alcohol level was .387 soon after the accident. The Industrial Commission found that the employee’s intoxication was not the proximate cause of his injury sustained when his hand got stuck on a lumber conveyor.

In another case the Industrial Commission found that the claimant’s intoxication was not a proximate cause of an accident even though the claimant’s blood alcohol level was .11 to .13 at the time of the accident. In that case the worker had a preexisting mental and visual handicap and the equipment provided by his employer malfunctioned. His supervisor testified he did not smell alcohol on the claimant’s breath and that he felt perfectly safe in having the claimant operating the equipment.

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