In the spirit of having fun and with Easter right around the corner I thought we would take a look at an interesting situation.  One of the most beloved mascots in all of sports who also happens to be the mascot of my Philadelphia Phillies – Phillie Phanactic, is known for his antics on and off the field.  He is in charge of everything from entertaining the crowds, distracting the umpires, and putting hexes on the opposing team so that they cannot hit the baseball.  The Phanatic does not always get to enjoy the game as he has his obligations to his fans and that is he job.

Let us for a second discuss the Phanatics physical attributes.  He stands six feet six inches tall and weighs in at 300 pounds with a staggering 90 inch waist.  All of us know that this is unhealthy and we have reported that when a worker is overweight and gets injured their medical bills tend to be higher in dollars paid and they also do not seem to recover as fast as a normal weight, healthy person.

In the video shown below we see the Phanatic hard at work on his job of cheering on his team and entertaining the crowd when a baseball comes off the opposing teams bat and hit the Phanatic in the throat causing a contusion and leaving him with a mild concussion.  He would be taken to the hospital when they would diagnose him with ICD-9 codes: 850.9 – Concussion and also 920 – Contusion to the Neck.  He would be treated and released and forced to miss a week of work due to his concussion.

The Phanatic makes $100k a year and works roughly 81 home games not including his overtime pay at private events or charitable fundraisers.  He gets paid in bi-weekly paychecks that gross pay him $3703.70 per paycheck.  According to Pennsylvania workers compensation laws Phanatic is entitled to two thirds of his weekly wage, with maximum adjustments.  With these numbers in mind the Phanactic would be entitled to his medical bills being paid and would receive a maximum of $932.00 in lost wages for the week of work that was missed.  The Philadelphia Phillies organization if they self-insure of their insurance carrier would be responsible for payments.  The Phillies would need to make a FROI report to the state the their beloved mascot was injured on his job.  If multiple injures continued to occur to Phanatic we may want to look into more safety protocols that would keep him safer – a helmet to be worn, a exercise and diet plan to be more nimble.  Pending everything worked out and Phanatic had clearance to return to work this case file would be paid out and closed.

OK folks I hope you enjoyed our hypothetical walk through.  In all honestly I have always known it, but he has also received national recognition as being one of the most recognized and beloved mascots in all of sports.  How can you not love a 300 pound fuzzy green Phanatic from the Galapagos Islands.  I would love to hear some input if things should have been handled differently in this case.