Katy Dierks v. Kraft Foods a/k/a Adair Foods Company, and Treasurer of the State of Missouri-Custodian of the Second Injury Fund

Kraft Foods (“Employer”) and the Second Injury Fund (“the Fund”) separately appeal an award of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission awarding benefits to Katy Dierks. The Commission’s award ordered Employer to pay past medical, future medical, and permanent partial disability benefits to Dierks, and it found the Fund liable for permanent total disability benefits. For the following reasons, the Commission’s decision is affirmed.

Dierks was employed for over a decade as a laborer at Employer’s Adair Foods factory in Kirksville, Missouri. Her job duties included loading meat onto…