Mosley, Amanda v. HG Staffing, LLC

2022 TN WC 1
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedJanuary 14, 2022
Docket2019-04-0064
StatusPublished

This text of 2022 TN WC 1 (Mosley, Amanda v. HG Staffing, LLC) 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
Mosley, Amanda v. HG Staffing, LLC, 2022 TN WC 1 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2022).

Opinion

FILED Jan 14, 2022 07:15 AM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION IN THE COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS AT COOKEVILLE

AMANDA MOSLEY, ) Docket No 2019-04-0064 Employee, ) v. ) HG STAFFING, LLC, ) State File No. 7907-2019 Employer, ) And ) CAROLINA CAS. INS. CO., ) Judge Robert Durham Carrier. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER GRANTING TEMPORARY PARTIAL DISABILITY BENEFITS

Ms. Mosley asked the Court to order HG Staffing to provide additional temporary partial disability benefits for her right wrist and hand injuries. HG Staffing asserted that Ms. Mosley was not entitled to those benefits, since she was terminated for cause and did not prove the extent of her temporary disability through expert medical opinion. After considering the record, the Court holds that Ms. Mosley is entitled to additional temporary partial disability benefits.

History of Claim 1

This is the third expedited hearing in this case. To recap the previous hearings, in the first Expedited Hearing Order, the Court held that Ms. Mosley was likely to prove she sustained a work-related injury on January 10, 2019, to her right hand and wrist. 2 The Court ordered HG Staffing to pay temporary partial disability benefits from April 8

1 The parties agreed to the admission of the exhibits and testimony introduced at the previous Expedited Hearings. The parties also stipulated that HG Staffing paid temporary partial disability benefits from April 8 through June 20, 2019, and for one week after her surgery in 2021 at the agreed compensation rate of $293.62. Finally, the parties stipulated that Ms. Mosley worked for two weeks at a nursing home after her injury before quitting because of pain and would not be entitled to temporary disability benefits for that time. 2 HG Staffing did not offer any additional medical evidence to challenge causation at this hearing. 1 through June 20, 2019, but it denied Ms. Mosley’s request for additional temporary disability benefits and medical treatment with her unauthorized doctor, Roy Terry. In the second Expedited Hearing Order, the Court ordered the surgery recommended by Dr. Terry but found that Ms. Mosley did not present sufficient medical proof of the duration and extent of any temporary disability.

In this hearing, Ms. Mosley is seeking temporary disability benefits from January 28, 2019, through October 28, 2021, less any payments already made by HG Staffing.3 Thus, the Court will summarize the evidence previously presented as to temporary disability as well as the new evidence.

The evidence from the first hearing showed that HG Staffing, an employment agency, hired Ms. Mosley in September 2018 to work at Dana Corporation. Ms. Mosley believed she was “doing great” and would soon be offered a full-time position. However, she sustained a work-related injury to her hand and wrist in January 2019, and she told her supervisor at Dana of her injury. She testified that the supervisor modified her duties but advised her against giving formal notice of an injury because she could lose her job.

Ms. Mosley’s symptoms persisted, and a safety coordinator at Dana insisted she file an accident report, which she did on January 25. Dana sent an email to HG Staffing later that day stating, without clarification, that it would be in “everyone’s best interests” to terminate Ms. Mosley’s assignment. HG Staffing then terminated Ms. Mosley’s employment on January 28 and told her it was due to her performance.

At this hearing, the only evidence HG Staffing introduced as to Ms. Mosley’s performance at Dana included undated, unsigned forms provided by Dana and designated as thirty- and sixty-day performance reviews. The first review stated that Ms. Mosley performed satisfactorily in all categories. The second review found that Ms. Mosley was satisfactory in most categories, but she needed to show more initiative and be more willing to assist co-workers. Dana did not offer a written ninety-day review form.

Denise Givens, Chief Operating Officer of HG Staffing, admitted at this hearing that she did not have these evaluations at the time she terminated Ms. Mosley. Instead, she obtained them after the first order finding that HG Staffing terminated Ms. Mosley without cause. Ms. Givens further admitted that she still did not know about Ms. Mosley’s alleged performance deficiencies other than what was in the sixty-day evaluation, and she agreed that Dana had not complained of Ms. Mosley’s attitude or initiative before the termination. However, she testified that Dana would not do so, since it did its own evaluations.

3 Dr. Terry found Ms. Mosley to be at maximum medical improvement on October 28, soon after the Expedited Hearing was scheduled. 2 HG Staffing also introduced an affidavit from Timothy Pile, Training Coordinator with Dana. The affidavit only stated that on January 25, Dana determined that it would be in its “best interests to terminate Ms. Mosley from her assignment.” The affidavit gave no details on Ms. Mosley’s alleged deficiencies or why termination was in Dana’s “best interests.”

Ms. Mosley testified at this hearing that Dana never gave her the thirty- or sixty- day evaluation forms, and she had no idea of any problems regarding job performance until she received the email terminating her employment.

The parties introduced evidence regarding Ms. Mosley’s continued employment with HG Staffing after the Dana assignment was terminated at the first hearing. Ms. Givens testified that if an employee’s contract is terminated, she is taken off HG Staffing’s records unless she reapplies for a new appointment. Thus, Ms. Mosley’s last day of employment was January 28. Ms. Mosley responded that after her termination, she called HG Staffing about a new assignment but was told nothing was available. Ms. Givens said she had no knowledge of Ms. Mosley requesting another assignment and stated that HG Staffing had jobs to accommodate any restrictions if Ms. Mosley had remained employed.

At this hearing, Ms. Mosley admitted that, beginning two days after her termination, she spent sixty-four days in jail for a probation violation. 4

After leaving jail, an authorized physician restricted Ms. Mosley from working with her right hand for six weeks. He then released her to full duty with no impairment or restrictions. Ms. Mosley testified that she then took employment at a nursing home, despite still suffering from hand pain. She worked there for a few weeks, but the job required significant right-hand use, and the pain forced her to quit.

After the nursing home, Ms. Mosley returned to Dr. James Rubright, an authorized physician, who would not attribute her continued complaints to her January accident. HG Staffing then denied Ms. Mosley’s claim, and she sought treatment with orthopedist Dr. Terry. The Court ordered HG Staffing to authorize Dr. Terry to treat Ms. Mosley, including surgery, as well as to pay temporary total disability benefits for the time Dr. Rubright took her off work.

The Court reconsidered the issue of temporary disability benefits at the second Expedited Hearing. Ms. Mosley introduced a C-32 from Dr. Terry that stated that, while he never took Ms. Mosley off work, he felt that her condition required temporary restrictions, and that she should only work “as tolerated.” Ms. Mosley testified at the 4 She could not remember the date she began her term but recalled it ended on April 4. Sixty-four days earlier would be January 30,

3 hearing that she was extremely limited in using her right hand given the pain and weakness she suffered in it. For example, she said that she dropped a bottle of cleaning fluid while attempting to clean her floor and was sprayed in her eye. She did not believe that she could find employment with her symptoms.

The Court held that Dr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

§ 50-6-239
Tennessee § 50-6-239(d)(1)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2022 TN WC 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mosley-amanda-v-hg-staffing-llc-tennworkcompcl-2022.