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Injured Worker's Case Thrown Out of Illinois Court

August 19, 2005

In Storjohann v. Heavy Lift Engineering (13 ILWCLB 64, Ill. Ind. Comm. 2005), an injured worker's claim was thrown out of Illinois when the Illinois Industrial Commission said the state did not have jurisdiction over an employee's injury and subsequent drug test because the employment contract was in Iowa.

Kenneth Storjohann filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits in Illinois for an injury that occurred in Iowa. Heavy Lift Engineering, which was based in Illinois, filed a motion to dismiss, based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The arbitrator granted the motion, saying the last act necessary to validate the employment contract between the claimant and employer - a drug test - was performed in Iowa.

Although the employer initially hired Storjohann in 1997, he quit and was rehired in 2001. Storjohann was required to pass a drug test in order to be rehired. He completed the drug test in Iowa, which was the location of the job assignment. The majority of the commission members said Illinois did not have jurisdiction because the drug test and subsequent hiring was performed in another state.

In a dissenting opinion, one commissioner said the contract for hire was made in Illinois when Storjohann was originally hired by the employer in 1997. Storjohann did not complete any new paperwork in 2001, and his 1997 hire date was used by the employer on the payroll forms and on the accident report. No new employment contract was made in Iowa in 2001, and there was no job application, interview or formal probation period. Furthermore, the dissent contended that the drug test should not have been the last act to form an employment contract, as the test was merely a requirement between the employee and the company for which Storjohann was doing work.