Jack Rack worked as a meat cutter at his local Grocer-R-Us chain of grocery stores. He was cutting meat on a saw but was not paying attention to the task at hand. Jack in a split second of day dreaming and cut off two fingers (pinky and ring fingers). Management worked quickly to get him and his fingers to the ER. Manager Johnson completed an incident form as an on the job work related injury (he documented that Jack Rack admitted to day dreaming before the accident). A new HR Director determine that Jack's day dreaming caused the injury. He contacted the third party company which handled investigations. The Director informed the third party investigator that he believed that worker's compensation did not apply because Jack was just careless.

You work for Worker's Comp R-US and have been assigned to investigate. Please investigate Jack's claim and analyze whether or not HR Director is correct. If Worker's compensation applies what will Grocer-R-Us be required to cover?

If Jack Rack returns to work and has a second similar incident, will Grocer-R-Us still be responsible?