The court found Amazon sought a zero-percent impairment rating under the guise of care
An injured Amazon warehouse worker who spent 14 months without income got half of what he asked for in Tennessee.
The worker hurt his lower back lifting heavy items on April 24, 2024. He described a fast-paced environment and said he could do the job fine before the injury. A treating physician diagnosed back pain with left-sided radiculopathy and a lumbosacral strain, then - at the worker’s own request - placed him at maximum medical improvement on April 10, 2025, releasing him without restrictions.
Amazon stopped paying temporary disability benefits four days later.
But the pain did not stop. Over the following months, the worker cycled through medical providers. A panel physician diagnosed sacroiliac joint pain and assigned work restrictions Amazon did not accommodate. Amazon then gave him a panel of pain management specialists. A nurse practitioner recommended an injection he declined - previous ones had not helped. When he returned months later and saw a different provider, an MRI was ordered. No follow-up was set to review the results.
What caught the court’s attention was what Amazon was doing behind the scenes. Its claims adjuster stated the company had “sent Mr. Brar to a new physician to investigate preexisting injuries, impairment rating, and surgical candidacy.” Amazon also sent the MRI-ordering provider a causation letter - attaching a 2022 medical record from a different doctor involving a prior injury. The letter did not ask whether the provider agreed with the existing impairment rating. It asked whether the impairment was zero percent.
The court called it out. Amazon, it held, was seeking “a negative causation opinion under the guise of providing ‘second opinions’ - all while not paying temporary disability benefits.”
The Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims ordered Amazon to immediately schedule the worker a return visit with his original treating physician, with proof of compliance due within seven business days.
On temporary disability, the worker came up short. No physician since the April 2025 finding had connected his condition to the workplace injury or stated a duration of disability. The court acknowledged his credible testimony and visible discomfort at the hearing but held he had not met his burden of proof.
A status hearing is set for December 7, 2026.
For employers managing workers’ comp claims, the takeaway is practical: how you steer the medical-opinion process can end up in front of a judge.
This is an expedited hearing order issued October 20, 2026, not a final determination on the merits. The matter remains before the court.
