ALBANY, N.Y. -- A World Trade Center worker who rushed from home on Sept. 11, 2001, to help rescue victims of the terrorist attack has been denied workers' compensation because he wasn't ordered to the scene by a boss, a court ruled Thursday.
The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the state Workers' Compensation Board, and against Christopher Duff's workers' compensation claims for psychological injuries. Duff had won a claim for an unreported amount at two lower-level hearings, but an appeal was won by the state, according to the decision.
"The man was the property manager for the World Trade Center," said one of Duff's attorneys, Robert Grey. "We don't understand the finding that he was not in the course of his employment."
Grey said the decision does preserve the former state worker's claim to compensation for respiratory and psychological problems as a volunteer. That status, however, is somewhat less certain because it will be paid out of a finite federal fund, rather the state workers' compensation fund, Grey said. He said he may appeal Thursday's ruling.
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