Employers have long utilized offers of light duty employment as effective tools to return injured employees to work and to limit the amount of temporary total disability benefits they may receive. Ohio law mandates that if an employee is offered an alternative job within their physical restrictions, they must accept that position or face a denial of temporary total disability benefits. (Ohio Revised Code Section 4123.56). There is still some debate as to whether or not a refusal of a light duty position constitutes abandonment and, therefore, could serve as a bar to any further temporary total disability benefits even if the employee suffers a flare-up at a new job, or additional conditions are added to the claim.
In the case of State ex rel. Akron Paint and Varnish, Inc. v. Gullotta, the Supreme Court has finally set the record straight on this issue. According to Justice Stratton, when an employee rejects an offer of light duty employment that is within their physical restrictions, they cannot later seek temporary total disability benefits unless they show new and changed circumstances. Those new and changed circumstances cannot include merely the addition of new conditions to their claim or a flare-up or exacerbation of their original injury. Instead, they have to show that they had obtained new employment and, thereafter, suffered a new period of lost wages resulting from the original injury. It is the Court’s rationale that the refusal of a light duty position under Ohio Revised Code Section 4123.56 constitutes voluntary abandonment of employment. Therefore, when an employee unjustifiably refuses light duty work made available by the employer, that employee jeopardizes their rights to future temporary total disability benefits regardless of the impact of their initial injury on their ability to work.
This decision was a definitive victory for employers and strengthens the use of light duty job offers as a defense in the area of temporary total disability benefits. For these reasons, employers should be careful to make sure they follow all procedural guidelines in offering light duty employment to an individual who is currently off work. Employers should always make sure that: 1) the offer of light duty is made in writing; 2) contains a detailed description of the job; and 3) identifies the particular restrictions provided by the injured worker’s treating physician. If the employee then chooses to reject the job, then their refusal constitutes voluntary abandonment and will serve as justification for denying temporary total disability benefits in the future.