Boise Cascade Employee's Once-Disputed Right to Benefits Survives Asbestos-Related Death, Board Says

MINNEAPOLIS - An employer that denied responsibility for a former employee's asbestos exposure and death cannot be relieved of its duty to pay benefits to the decedent's family just because the employee has died, a state workers' compensation appeals board has held. Walker v. Boise Cascade Corp., et al., No. n/a (Minn. WCAB).

Affirming a compensation judge's award of benefits to the employee's estate, the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Appeals Board said Feb. 10 that allowing the former Boise Cascade employee's claim to vest upon his death would provide employers like Boise with an opportunity to avoid paying death benefits simply …