Bowen, Raymond v. Resource Management Co., Inc.

2018 TN WC 144
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedSeptember 13, 2018
Docket2018-06-0807
StatusPublished

This text of 2018 TN WC 144 (Bowen, Raymond v. Resource Management Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowen, Raymond v. Resource Management Co., Inc., 2018 TN WC 144 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

FILED Sep 13, 2018 01:42 PM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN THE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS AT NASHVILLE

Raymond Bowen, ) Docket No. 2018-06-0807 Employee, ) v. ) Resource Management Co., Inc., ) State File No. 51334-2017 Employer, ) And ) Selective Ins. Co. of S.C., ) Judge Kenneth M. Switzer Carrier. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER GRANTING REQUESTED RELIEF

Raymond Bowen filed a Request for Expedited Hearing, which this Court heard on September 11, 2018. The hearing concerned his entitlement to temporary partial disability benefits. Specifically the legal issue was whether Mr. Bowen may receive these benefits even though Resource Management Company closed. The Court holds that he may and grants his request.

History of Claim

Mr. Bowen has worked as a truck driver for approximately fifty years. He worked for Resource Management driving a dump truck when he injured his right shoulder on June 26, 2017. Mr. Bowen received authorized treatment with Dr. Lucas Richie. Dr. Richie placed restrictions of no lifting, pushing or pulling more than twenty pounds, and no overhead lifting with the right arm. For the purposes of this hearing only, Resource Management agreed that Mr. Bowen's injury is causally connected to work. The parties additionally agreed that his weekly compensation rate is $464.54.

Mr. Bowen returned to light-duty work earning his pre-injury wage. Specifically, he drove a truck with an automatic transmission. On March 1, 2018, Resource Management laid him and two other employees off due to closure of the company, and it

1 sold the truck he drove. 1 Resource Management offered the declaration of Mike Johnson, its president, who stated that "financial pressures" led to the company laying off almost every employee in March, including Mr. Bowen. Mr. Bowen agreed that the business' closing and his injury were not connected, nor did he believe the layoff and his injury were related.

Mr. Bowen testified that afterward he sought other jobs driving a truck but was unable to find work. He specifically identified Vulcan, Jones Brothers and Freeman as companies where he looked for employment. Mr. Bowen did not actually fill out an application for these positions but stated that within the field some employers do not use written applications. Rather, he called and asked about work. Mr. Bowen did not look for jobs outside his field. He conceded he did not know if he could do other types of work because he has not tried, nor is he interested in looking outside his field.

Mr. Bowen began drawing from a pension and receiving Social Security retirement benefits approximately eight years ago. He returned to work after he retired. He testified that he still receives income from the pension and Social Security and now considers himself retired. However, Mr. Bowen testified that, if he were offered a job, "I would take work if I had it, yes."

In August, Dr. Richie altered the restrictions to prohibit use of his right arm, including no pushing, pulling, lifting or overhead use. Mr. Bowen testified that the restrictions prevent driving even an automatic transmission truck.

Mr. Bowen argued he is entitled to temporary partial disability benefits from March 1 through the present. He asserted that the Workers' Compensation Law does not prohibit an award of temporary disability benefits when an employee is laid off "for unrelated reasons." All that an employee must show, he asserted, is that he is unable to work due to an injury; a causal connection exists between the injury and his inability to work; and the period of disability. The employee need not show that he is unable to work with a specific employer. Mr. Bowen maintained that, but for the restrictions, he could have found other employment after the layoff.

Resource Management countered that Mr. Bowen does not meet the requirements for temporary partial disability benefits because his unemployment does not relate to his injury but rather to the layoff. In addition, Mr. Bowen's efforts to find other work were insufficient. He now considers himself retired. Further, the layoff had no connection to Mr. Bowen's injury, and he was treated no differently than any other employee.

Both parties discussed Heard v. Carrier Corp., 2018 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 16 (Apr. 20, 20 18), and whether it controls this case.

1 Resource Management argued the layoff occurred on March 10.

2 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Mr. Bowen must present sufficient evidence that he is likely to prevail at a hearing o~the merits. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-239(d)(1) (2017); McCord v. Advantage Human Resourcing, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 6, at *7-8, 9 (Mar. 27, 2015).

To qualify for temporary disability benefits, Mr. Bowen must establish: (1) that he became disabled from working due to · a compensable injury; 2) that there is a causal connection between the injury and the inability to work; and 3) the duration of the period of disability. Jones v. Crencor Leasing and Sales, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 48, at *7 (Dec. 11, 2015). The Workers' Compensation Law provides that an injured worker is entitled to temporary partial disability benefits when the temporary disability is not total. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(1 )-(2). Temporary partial disability refers to the time, if any, during which the injured employee is able to resume some gainful employment but has not reached maximum recovery. Mace v. Express Servs., Inc., 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 49, at *8 (Dec. 11, 2015). "In circumstances where the treating physician has released the injured worker to return to work with restrictions prior to maximum recovery, and the employer ... cannot return the employee to work within the restrictions ... , the injured worker may be eligible for temporary partial disability." Jones, at *8.

Here, Resource Management agreed that Mr. Bowen suffered a compensable injury but argued that no causal connection exists between the injury and his present inability to work. The parties agreed that the restrictions were in effect when Resource Management laid Mr. Bowen off and they remained in place until August 2018, when they changed slightly.

The Court finds Mr. Bowen credible and that Resource Management laid him off on March 1. Since then, Resource Management has not returned him to work within his restrictions, as Jones dictates. Further, the Court finds a causal connection between Mr. Bowen's injury and his present inability to work. Resource Management's explanation- that the business closed- bears no legal significance to the issue of temporary partial disability entitlement under Jones. Resource Management cited no on-point authority to support its position that closing the business ends its responsibility to pay temporary partial disability to employees under restrictions, who are unable to work elsewhere due to those restrictions.

The Court agrees with Mr. Bowen that Resource Management's reliance on Heard v. Carrier Corp. is misplaced. In Heard, the injured worker received temporary partial disability benefits until she was one of approximately 400 workers subject to a seasonal lay-off under a collective bargaining agreement. Heard, at *2. The employee did not work elsewhere during the layoff and did not receive unemployment compensation

3 because she was ''under workers' compensation." Id. at *3.

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Related

§ 50-6-207
Tennessee § 50-6-207(1)
§ 50-6-239
Tennessee § 50-6-239(d)(1)

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2018 TN WC 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowen-raymond-v-resource-management-co-inc-tennworkcompcl-2018.