Violence Connected With Labor Disputes

Injuries in the course of violence due to labor disputes are usually held to arise out of the employment, whether a union member is attacked by nonunion persons,62 or nonunion persons are attacked by union members.63 Similarly, assaults related to the performance of a union shop steward's duties are generally held compensable.64 There are three categories of admittedly work-connected fights that have caused difficulty and have on occasion produced denials of compensation: (1) where there has been a cooling-off period and the fight has been resumed; (2) where the subject of the fight was technically not within the scope of the claimant's job; and (3) where the claimant himself or herself started the fight. These three situations are examined in the succeeding subsections.