Alcoa worker can pursue toxic-exposure claim eight years later, board rules

In 2016 he was diagnosed with a meningioma, a non-malignant brain tumor, and had surgery. No physician tied it to his job at the time. He was approved for Social Security disability in 2018. Only in December 2023, he said, did a doctor first suggest a work-related cause. He gave written notice days later and filed his petition on January 4, 2024 – about eight years after he stopped working. 

The physician who first raised the occupational link, a neurologist and occupational medicine specialist, opined that his workplace exposures were more likely than not responsible for his conditions, and a second neurologist agreed. An industrial hygienist testified that long-term exposure to such substances can cause pulmonary fibrosis, encephalopathy, and respiratory problems. 

The employer argued he had missed two deadlines: the 30-day notice rule and the one-year filing window. But Tennessee’s “discovery rule” pauses both clocks until a worker knows, or reasonably should know, that a condition is work-related. Because no physician had flagged a link until late 2023, the board found the deadlines had not expired. 

The employer also declined to authorize care or offer a panel of physicians. So the worker picked his own, and the trial court named two of them as his authorized treating physicians. 

The board also noted the employer had challenged medical causation but failed to argue the point in its brief, so the issue was “waived.” The board did not decide whether the job caused the illness.