Matter of Compensation of Russ

The issue in this workers’ compensation case is compensability. The employer seeks reversal of the Workers’ Compensation Board’s order affirming the referee’s finding that the claimant’s hip injury from an “unexplained fall” was compensable. We affirm.

Claimant, an 82-year-old laborer, was employed at a food-processing plant. On February 5, 1980, the date of the injury, claimant had worked a full eight-hour shift sorting onions on a production line. He finished his duties at 5 p.m. and proceeded from his work area to the time clock to “punch out” for the day. In traveling along his usual route…