Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Iowa: Injured Worker was Not Limited to Scheduled Award
Posted on 3 Oct 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

An award to an injured employee could be made on a permanent partial disability basis—he was not limited to a scheduled award—where the employee suffered a torn quadriceps tendon in his lower extremity, but medical evidence indicated that... Read More

Alabama: Unscheduled Award Found Appropriate for Worker With Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Posted on 11 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Quoting Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law , and finding that in addition to an impairment to a worker’s arm, he also suffered from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, an Alabama court said it was error to limit the worker’s recovery... Read More

Utah: Worker Entitled to PTD Award in Spite of Return to Work at Higher Income
Posted on 10 Mar 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where a Utah worker sustained catastrophic work-related injuries, including the amputation of both feet, when he accidentally came into contact with a high voltage power line and yet, after a significant period of recuperation was able to return to full... Read More

New York: No Combination of Awards for Nonschedule PPD and Schedule Loss of Use Allowed for Same Accident
Posted on 21 Jun 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

An injured New York worker may not receive both a schedule loss of use award and a nonschedule permanent partial disability award for injuries arising out of the same work-related accident. Accordingly, where the state’s Workers’ Compensation... Read More

Pennsylvania: Worker Fails to Show that Loss of Use of Finger is Permanent
Posted on 11 Aug 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

A Pennsylvania appellate court held that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board appropriately reversed a WCJ’s order granting claimant’s petition for specific loss of the use of the right index finger, where the claimant... Read More

Larson’s Spotlight on Recent Cases: Partially Disabled Claimant With Combined Injuries Should Not Receive More Payments Than a Quadriplegic Claimant
Posted on 11 May 2012 by Larson's Spotlight

Larson's Spotlight on Scheduled Award, Average Weekly Wage, Medical Benefits (Pool Therapy), and Nose Disfigurement. Larson's surveys the latest case developments that you need to know about. Thomas A. Robinson, the staff writer for Larson's... Read More

South Carolina: Injured Employee Entitled to PTD Benefits For Significant Impairment to Back in Spite of Return to Work
Posted on 9 Mar 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Evidence that an injured employee has returned to work in some capacity, standing alone, does not rebut the presumption of total disability where the uncontradicted medical evidence indicates the employee sustained loss of use to his back that exceeded... Read More

Alabama: Benefits Limited to Scheduled Award Where No Other Body Part Involved
Posted on 23 Aug 2013 by Larson's Spotlight

An Alabama appellate court recently reversed a state court’s judgment awarding compensation to an employee based on its determination that his work-related injury affected the employee’s body as a whole, rather than being limited to his knee... Read More

Ohio: Survivors of Worker Who Lapsed Into Coma Shortly Before Death Entitled to Scheduled Benefits in Additional to Death Benefits
Posted on 4 Apr 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

Continuing a line of controversial decisions in which the survivors of a deceased employee are allowed to recover not only statutory death benefits following the death of the employee from work-related injuries or occupational diseases, but also scheduled... Read More

New York: Amputation of Fingers and Thumb Results in Award That Exceeds Amount for Total Loss of Hand
Posted on 1 Jun 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where an employee sustained a severe injury to his right hand that resulted in the amputation of all four fingers and his thumb—surgeons were able to reattach part of the thumb, but it had no pinching ability—the Board did not err when it... Read More

Iowa: Injured Worker Fails to Show Her Injury Resulted in Injury to Body as a Whole
Posted on 16 Sep 2016 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where a bartender sustained an injury when she slipped and “did the splits” while working at her employer’s bar, the commissioner’s decision that the bartender sustained a scheduled injury to her leg, and not an injury to her body... Read More

Washington, D.C.: Absence of Wage Loss May be Considered in Determining Schedule Award
Posted on 12 May 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Addressing the question directly for the first time under the current version of the District of Columbia Workers’ Compensation Act, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that the Compensation Review Board (CRB) reasonably concluded that wage loss (or... Read More

Larson’s Spotlight on Recent Cases: Partially Disabled Claimant With Combined Injuries Should Not Receive More Payments Than a Quadriplegic Claimant
Posted on 11 May 2012 by Larson's Spotlight

Larson's Spotlight on Scheduled Award, Average Weekly Wage, Medical Benefits (Pool Therapy), and Nose Disfigurement. Larson's surveys the latest case developments that you need to know about. Thomas A. Robinson, the staff writer for Larson's... Read More