McDonald’s Worker Denied Worker’s Compensation After Being Shot on Videotape

It was bad enough when Nigel Haskett was shot at McDonald’s in Little Rock, Arkansas. The worker had rushed to helped a woman who was struck by a man and was shot three times. He was then told by Claims specialist Misty Thompson with insurance company Ramsey, Krug, Farrell and Lensing responded, that he had no right to worker’s compensation for his injuries. Hasket required three surgeries at a cost of $300,000 in medical bills and six months recovery.

In her statement, she states “we’ve denied this claim in its entirety, it’s our opinion that Mr. Haskett’s injuries did not arise out of or within the course of his employment.”
Haskett’s boss Ray Nosler is trying to help with the creation of a fund and had no role in the denial of the claim.

What is particularly galling for many is that the insurance company noted that Haskett violated McDonald’s policy, which says in a robbery situation it tells employees not to do anything that would put themselves or anyone else in danger. Nice.

McDonald’s, it seems, could do a bit more here as a company. One obvious act would be to support him in his claim publicly and pledge to cover his expenses. While the policy may be to encourage employees not to try to thwart a robbery, this was an effort to protect a woman and customers from a violent individuals.

This is not a unique situation. Walmart fired two managers in 2007 for thwarting a robbery. Yet, in another case, employees were fired for not taking action that they believed would have resulted in being shot, here.

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