Woods, Jon v. Traeger Pellet Grills, Inc.

2019 TN WC 145
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedOctober 10, 2019
Docket018-05-0400
StatusPublished

This text of 2019 TN WC 145 (Woods, Jon v. Traeger Pellet Grills, 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
Woods, Jon v. Traeger Pellet Grills, Inc., 2019 TN WC 145 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2019).

Opinion

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

AT MURFREESBORO JON WOODS, ) Docket No. 2018-05-0400 Employee, ) V. ) ) TRAEGER PELLET GRILLS, ) State File No. 86530-2017 INC., ) Employer, ) And ) ) ADVANTAGE WORKERS’ ) Judge Dale Tipps COMPENSATION INS. CO., ) Carrier.

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER GRANTING REQUESTED BENEFITS

This case came before the Court on October 3, 2019, for an Expedited Hearing on whether Mr. Woods is entitled to payment of additional temporary disability benefits in spite of his termination for cause. To receive these benefits, Mr. Woods must show that he is likely to establish at a hearing on the merits that he is entitled to temporary disability benefits for the period of January 13, 2018, to October 25, 2018. For the reasons below, the Court holds Mr. Woods met this burden and is entitled to the requested benefits.

History of Claim

Medical Treatment While working for Traeger near Seattle, Washington, Mr. Woods injured his back while lifting a grill on November 3, 2017. He received authorized medical treatment. After Mr. Woods returned to his home in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, Traeger authorized

additional treatment at Middle Tennessee Medical.

In December, Mr. Woods moved to San Diego, and Traeger provided a panel of

1 physicians there. He continued physical therapy. However, before Mr. Woods could schedule an appointment with his panel physician, his wife received a new job assignment, and they moved to Los Angeles. Traeger provided another panel, and Mr. Woods selected Adventist Health.

Before his first appointment at Adventist, Mr. Woods went to Tyler Physical Therapy on January 24, 2018. He reported he wanted to return to work and felt capable of doing so.

Mr. Woods had only one appointment at Adventist. On January 31, FNP Carol Ow diagnosed lumbar strain and sciatica, and she referred him to an orthopedic specialist. She also instructed Mr. Woods to continue his physical therapy and assigned modified restrictions of no lifting, pushing, or pulling over five pounds and no excessive standing.

Termination

A few days after the injury, Kortni Hobson, a Human Resource Specialist at Traeger, emailed an incident report and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) documents to Mr. Woods. She asked him to return the completed FMLA certification by November 24 because Traeger was treating his “time off since November 3 as FMLA.” Ms. Hobson explained that if she did not receive the paperwork, “your leave may be denied and your absences may be subject to [Traeger’s] time-off policies and procedures.” Over the next two months, Ms. Hobson and Ashley West, the Human Resource Manager, repeatedly tried to get Mr. Woods to complete and return the FMLA documents.

Mr. Woods testified that he tried to comply with their requests, but none of his providers at Middle Tennessee Medical would complete the medical portion of the FMLA certification. He hoped to get his San Diego doctor to complete it, but was unable to get an appointment before he moved to Los Angeles.

The day before Mr. Woods’s first appointment with Adventist, Traeger terminated his employment on January 30. Ms. Hobson stated in her affidavit that he was terminated under Traeger’s attendance policies. Ms. Hobson and Ms. West confirmed in their affidavits that Traeger terminated Mr. Woods for failing to provide a physician’s statement after missing more than three consecutive days of work.

The parties stipulated to a weekly compensation rate of $742.79.

Mr. Woods requested that the Court order Traeger to pay temporary disability benefits from January 13, 2018, to October 25, 2018."

" Although Mr. Woods was not terminated until January 30, Traeger stopped his temporary disability benefits before that date. From a Notice of Controversy filed on January 16, it appears Traeger

2 Traeger argued that Mr. Woods is not entitled to the requested benefits. It first noted that he was not taken completely off work during this period. Next, Traeger pointed out that his temporary restrictions were removed during his January 24 physical therapy appointment, and Mr. Woods was terminated for violating company attendance policies a few days later. Although FNP Ow assigned temporary restrictions the next day, Traeger had no duty to offer restricted work or pay temporary partial disability benefits because it had already fired Mr. Woods for cause.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Mr. Woods must provide sufficient evidence from which this Court might determine he is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6- 239(d)(1) (2018); McCord v. Advantage Human Resourcing, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 6, at *7-8, 9 (Mar. 27, 2015).

Temporary Total Disability

To receive temporary total disability benefits, Mr. Woods must establish that (1) he became disabled from working due to a compensable injury; (2) a causal connection between his injury and his inability to work; and (3) his period of disability. Jones v. Crencor Leasing and Sales, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 48, at *7 (Dec. 11, 2015). None of the medical records showed that Mr. Woods’s physicians took him completely off work. Without evidence that he was “disabled from working,” Mr. Woods has not proven he is likely to succeed on a claim for temporary total disability benefits.

Temporary Partial Disability

Temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits are available when the temporary disability is not total. Specifically, TPD “refers to the time, if any, during which the injured employee is able to resume some gainful employment but has not reached maximum recovery.” Jd. An employee may receive TPD benefits when the treating physician has him to return to work with restrictions but the employer either (1) cannot return the employee to work within those restrictions or (2) cannot provide restricted work that pays the employee’s average weekly wage on the date of injury. /d. at *8. TPD benefits are based on sixty-six and two thirds percent of the difference between an employee’s average weekly wage and the wage he is able to earn in his partially disabled condition. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(2)(A).

terminated these benefits because it contended Mr. Woods had missed a January 16 physical therapy appointment. Mr. Woods denied knowing he had an appointment scheduled for that day.

3 No one disputes that Mr. Woods had medical restrictions when Traeger first stopped his TPD. Traeger filed a Notice of Controversy stating that Mr. Woods failed to attend a physical therapy appointment on January 16, 2018. However, Mr. Woods testified that he was unaware of the appointment, and the adjuster had emailed him a few days earlier saying that his physical therapy was complete. The Court finds Mr. Woods’s unrebutted explanation credible. Mr. Woods is therefore entitled to TPD benefits from January 13 through at least January 29, the day before his termination.

Mr. Woods’s entitlement to TPD after January 29 requires additional analysis. An employee’s termination for misconduct may relieve an employer of the obligation to pay temporary disability benefits if the reason for termination qualifies as misconduct under ordinary workplace rules. Barrett vy. Lithko Contracting, Inc., 2016 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 70, at *9 (June 17, 2016). “When confronted with such a case, courts must consider the employer’s need to enforce workplace rules and the reasonableness of the contested rules.” Id.

In this case, Mr. Woods was terminated for violating Traeger’s attendance policy.

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