Disability Benefits Ordered for Hog Slaughterhouse Worker with Brucellosis

The Iowa Supreme Court has awarded disability benefits to a former slaughterhouse worker who allegedly contracted brucellosis from butchering hogs. IBP, Inc. v. Burress, No. 07-1887 (Iowa, decided July 10, 2009). The court determined that the disease was caused by a traumatic event and thus was a compensable injury under state law. So ruling, the court affirmed an intermediate appellate court decision
rejecting a district court’s determination that the claimant had an occupational disease and failed to timely file his workers’ compensation petition.

The court discusses in some detail how the claimant came into contact with Brucella organisms through open cuts while exposed to hog blood during his 10-year tenure at IBP, Inc.’s meat-packing plant. He allegedly developed a chronic infection of the hips and bone as a result of his contact with blood products and tissue from slaughtered hogs, but was not apparently diagnosed with the disease until some six years after he left his employment.

According to the court, “the main distinction between an injury and an occupational disease is the method of contraction.” Because the employer “did not present any evidence indicating [claimant] had contracted brucellosis in a manner consistent with the definition of occupational disease,” and there was substantial evidence that he acquired brucellosis from contact with infected hog blood on numerous occasions, the court concluded that his claim was not barred by the statute of repose.