Road worker properly denied benefits after heart attack: Wyoming high court

The Wyoming Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an appeal by a road worker who sought workers compensation benefits after suffering a heart attack at work.

In Darren J. Gray v. State of Wyoming et al., the high court said workers comp benefits were properly denied because Mr. Gray failed to prove his April 2022 heart attack was caused by work activities.

Mr. Gray, who worked as a flagger and laborer for Keyhole Technologies, which provides traffic control for road construction projects, claimed his heart attack was caused by repetitive pounding work to install road signs.

Doctors determined Mr. Gray suffered a heart attack during the incident. Mr. Gray also had a history of cardiac issues, the ruling states.

A hearing examiner found Mr. Gray wasn’t entitled to benefits because of a failure to prove that the exertion on the day of the heart attack was “unusual or abnormal for his particular employment.”

Mr. Gray testified that the work activities were unusual or abnormal for his job, since he was hired as a flagger. However, a Keyhole Technologies supervisor claimed that Mr. Gray also worked as a laborer.

The state’s high court, in upholding the denial of benefits, said the hearing examiner’s decision under the heart attack statute was properly supported by “substantial evidence.”

The court also said it would later decide separately whether a pre-existing condition analysis should be given weight in similar, future cases.