North Carolina: Court Clarifies 50-Mile Limit as Related to an Offering of “Suitable” Employment

A job offered to a Kingsport, Tennessee resident that was located in Charleston, South Carolina did not constitute “suitable employment” within the meaning of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97–2(22), held a North Carolina appellate court. At issue was whether the 50-mile limit designated within the statute was a “factor” to be considered in determining if the offer of employment was reasonable or whether the 50-mile limit was instead a “requirement.” The court held that the distance limit was a requirement. In order to be deemed “suitable,” the offered employment must be work that the employee is capable of performing, considering his or her preexisting and injury-related physical and mental limitations, vocational skills, education, experience, and the work must be within 50 miles of the employee’s residence.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Falin v. The Roberts Co. Field Servs., Inc., 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 136 (Feb. 2, 2016) [2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 136 (Feb. 2, 2016)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 85.02 [85.02]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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