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The state high court agreed with a lower court ruling that the manager did not sustain a compensable injury because her
injuries were caused by third parties intending to injure her for personal reasons and not because of her employment.
The trial court also ruled that the attack was racially motivated.
The incident occurred Aug. 11, 2002, when two men attacked the manager while she attempted to unlock the restaurant,
court records in the case of N.J.J. vs. Wesfam Restaurants Inc. show. The attackers pulled her behind the Huntsville,
Ala., restaurant and sexually assaulted her while a third person acted as a lookout.
She testified during a court hearing over her eligibility for workers comp benefits that her attackers repeatedly made
racially charged comments relating to consorting with African-Americans, court records state. She also testified that
shortly before the attack she had banned the man who acted as the lookout from the Burger King restaurant for setting a
napkin holder on fire.
She had never seen the two men who attacked her and, during the attack, the lookout did not mention his earlier ejection
from the Burger King restaurant, court records state.
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A Burger King restaurant manager sexually assaulted in a racially motivated attack as she arrived at
work is not eligible for Workers' Compensation benefits, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Thursday.