Temporary total disability benefits were designed to compensate an injured worker for the loss of earnings which he or she incurs while a workplace injury heals. These benefits, however, were never intended to subsidize lost or diminished earnings attributable to lifestyle decisions. As a result, if an employee permanently leaves the workforce for reasons unrelated to his or her work injury, that employee should not recover temporary total disability compensation.
This interpretation of the law was confirmed by the Ohio Supreme Court recently in the case of State ex rel. Corman v. Allied Holdings, Inc., 132 Ohio St.3d 292. What makes this case unique is the evidence surrounding the claimant’s retirement. In particular, the injured worker retired from his job at Allied Holdings a year after his workplace injury. Around seven years later, the claimant tried to reinstate his temporary total disability benefits based upon a new period of treatment and an exacerbation of his prior workplace injury. In upholding the Industrial Commission’s denial of benefits, the Ohio Supreme Court emphasized that temporary total disability compensation is designed to replace lost earnings for an injured worker: “There can be no lost earnings, however, or even a potential for lost earnings, if the claimant is no longer part of the active workforce.” The claimant in Corman provided absolutely no evidence of any effort to secure other employment after his retirement or any evidence of a medical inability to perform other work during that period of retirement. The injured worker’s failure to search for other employment or to show that his loss of employment was due to the work-related injury was crucial in the court’s analysis.
In its conclusion, the court noted that even if Mr. Corman had shown that he had retired from Allied Holdings because of his injury, he still would not have been entitled to temporary total disability benefits. There was no evidence of a medical inability to perform other work and, certainly, no evidence of his effort to seek other employment. The Court noted that “Mr. Corman had the choice – seek other employment or work no further. When Mr. Corman elected the latter, he eliminated the possibility of or potential for lost wages. He cannot, therefore, credibly assert that he has lost income due to his industrial injury.”
This case is important for employers when dealing with older claims where an injured worker tries to reinstate temporary total disability benefits because of a newly allowed condition or new period of treatment after they retire or quit. If there has been no effort by the employee to seek other employment and no evidence that the injured worker has temporarily lost their ability to work, then there should be no eligibility for temporary total disability benefits.