An Arkansas appeals court ruled a ranch hand’s tick-borne illness compensable, reversing a commission decision that denied the live-in employee’s workers’ compensation claim.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals reversed the state Workers’ Compensation Commission on February 18, finding that Midwest Insurance Company must cover Jonathan Mohler’s alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-borne disease that causes an allergic reaction to mammalian meat products.
The decision turns on a critical detail: Mohler lived on his employer’s property and was on call twenty-four hours a day…