A teacher was shot by her 6-year-old student. Is workers’ compensation enough?
Associated PressNEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A heated debate has emerged about the once-unimaginable shooting of a teacher by her 6-year-old student: How should the school district take care of the teacher? The school board will argue for workers’ compensation, which provides up to more than 9 years of pay and a lifetime of medical care for Zwerner’s injuries. Zwerner’s attorneys say workers’ compensation doesn’t apply because a first-grade teacher would never anticipate getting shot: “It was not an actual risk of her job.” “Her job involved teaching six-year-old children, not exposing herself to criminal assault whenever she went to work,” Zwerner’s lawyers writes in a brief filed last week. “Children under seven are ‘conclusively presumed to be incapable of crime,’” the school board’s lawyers write in a brief, citing the state’s Supreme Court. Zwerner’s own lawsuit “implies that he became angry about that suspension resulting in the shooting,” school board lawyers write.
History of this topic
The teacher shot by a 6-year-old still worries, a year later, about the other students in the room
Associated PressVirginia teacher shot by 6-year-old can proceed with $40 million lawsuit, judge rules
Associated PressLawyers spar over possibility of workers’ compensation for teacher who was shot by 6-year-old
Associated Press
Abby Zwerner: Teacher shot by six-year-old student ‘fired by school district’
The Independent
Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old student has resigned, school officials say
LA Times
Teacher awarded £350,000 after pupil assault caused life-changing injuries
The Independent
Virginia teacher shot and gravely wounded by six-year-old student to file $40m lawsuit against school
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