Insurer for last employer to expose worker to hazardous noise levels must pay claim

The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the insurer for the last employer responsible for exposing a worker to hazardous levels of noise for a period of over a year was liable for the worker’s hearing loss claim.

Troy Stidham worked for the Clas Coal Co. for over 16 years in Kentucky. After the mine in Pike County closed, he continued working for Clas in Alabama for nine months before retiring in October 2020, according to Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance v. Clas Coal Co. Inc.

In both Kentucky and Alabama, Mr. Stidham worked mostly as a shuttle car operator where he was exposed to the continuous loud noise of the conveyor belt. Despite using hearing protection every day at work, Stidham began noticing problems with his hearing around 2018 or 2019.

In August 2021, an audiologist in Kentucky diagnosed Mr. Stidham with hearing loss.

Mr. Stidham filed workers compensation claims against Clas for hearing loss and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, listing the last day he worked in Kentucky — Jan. 1, 2020 — as the date of last exposure.

Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance insured Clas up until February 2020. It objected to Stidham’s claims, contending Mr. Stidham’s date of last exposure was Oct. 31, 2020, the date that he retired in Alabama.

An administrative law judge dismissed Mr. Stidham’s coal workers’ pneumoconiosis claim but granted his hearing loss claim.

The ALJ found that Kentucky had jurisdiction over the hearing loss claim, accepting Mr. Stidham’s contention that Jan. 1, 2020, the last day that Stidham worked for Clas in Kentucky, was the date of injury.

The Workers’ Compensation Board affirmed, as did the Court of Appeals.

The Kentucky Supreme Court said there was no dispute that Mr. Stidham’s hearing loss resulted from his employment with Clas. The only disputes were when the condition manifested, whether KEMI was liable based on the date of injury, and, generally, whether Kentucky had jurisdiction over the claims.

Prior to 2018, the court said, Kentucky Revised Statutes Section 342.7305(4) provided a rebuttable presumption that the employer at the time of the last injurious exposure to hazardous noise is exclusively liable to provide benefits for hearing loss.

That statute was amended in 2018 to change the law to presume the last business to employ a hearing loss claimant for at least a year is liable for the injury.

Before 2018, the court said it interpreted Section 342.7305(4) to mean that an injury occurred on the date of the last exposure.

“With the updated language of KRS 342.7305(4), we now add the requirement that the employee be injuriously exposed for a year while under the same employer before finding that employer liable,” the court said.

The court further said it agreed with the board that it would be “illogical” to disregard the one-year working requirement in Section 342.7305(4) just because Stidham was transferred out-of-state and worked for a short period of time.

The court noted testimony from physicians indicated the hearing loss was a result of long-term exposure to noise and the short time that Stidham worked in Alabama was inconsequential. What’s more, the court said there was no testimony from a physician stating that Stidham’s time in Alabama exacerbated his hearing loss.

Given this record, the court said, the ALJ’s finding that Mr. Stidham’s injury occurred Jan. 1, 2020, was supported by substantial evidence.

The court said this date of injury also meant Mr. Stidham’s injury occurred in Kentucky, so Kentucky had jurisdiction over his claim.

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