Denison Municipal Utilities v. Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner

I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the district court ruling that correctly reversed the workers’ compensation commissioner. The commissioner lacked authority to penalize the employer for failing to provide a first report of injury when the employee missed no work. In my view, the controlling statutory provision is Iowa Code section 86.11 (2013), which provides in relevant part:

Every employer shall hereafter keep a record of all injuries, fatal or otherwise, alleged by an employee to have been sustained in the course of the employee’s employment and resulting in incapacity for a longer…