Ohio employers’ defenses to temporary total disability compensation continue to shrink. First, the legislature eliminated the doctrine of voluntary abandonment. Then, the Tenth District held that terminated employees may be eligible for temporary total disability compensation. Now, employees who voluntarily resign their employment may be entitled to compensation as well.Continue Reading Another setback for Ohio employers’ defense to temporary total disability compensation
The Tenth District Court of Appeals has thrown a curveball to Ohio employers by limiting a defense to temporary total disability compensation following the termination of an employee.Continue Reading Defense to temporary total disability compensation for Ohio employers may be limited
On Sept. 27, 2018,the Ohio Supreme Court took the unusual step of overturning two prior decisions in an attempt to clarify a confusing aspect of workers’ compensation law. A long-standing tenet of workers’ compensation law, temporary total disability compensation, is intended to compensate an injured worker when they are unable to work due to a work-related injury. To be entitled to temporary total disability compensation, an injured worker must be medically unable to work and the inability to work must be caused by the work injury.
One exception to this rule, and a defense routinely used by employers, is the voluntary abandonment of employment doctrine. In essence, when relying on this defense, the employer argues the injured worker’s own actions caused his or her loss of compensation rather than the work incident and therefore they would not be entitled to compensation. Previously, the Supreme Court limited the scope of this defense by holding that if an injured worker was disabled due to the work injury at the time of the separation of employment, the injured worker remained entitled to temporary total disability compensation.
Continue Reading Voluntary abandonment doctrine strengthened by Ohio Supreme Court
The Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision in State ex rel. Rouan v. Indus. Comm., last month making it clear that employees who retire, and thereby remove themselves from the workforce, for reasons unrelated to their workers’ compensation claims are ineligible to receive Temporary Total Compensation. (“TTC”).
Continue Reading Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Denial of TTC to Retired Employee