Once again Ohio’s Injured Workers will not be permitted to collect benefits to which they were entitled not so long ago. On September 14, 2017, the Ohio Supreme Court held that Injured Workers were not entitled to Permanent Partial Disability benefits (PPD) if they are also receiving Permanent Total Benefits (PTD). See State Ex Rel. Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services, Inc., V. Industrial Commission of Ohio et al.
Under Ohio Law, PPD is designed to compensate the Injured Worker for the permanent effects he/she suffers as a result of a workplace injury. PTD, on the other hand, is designed to compensate Injured Workers who can no longer return to the workforce due to a workplace injury. Although the statute which created PTD indicates that Injured Workers cannot collect any benefits other than PTD benefits, it has been interpreted to allow the collection of PPD benefits if the Injured Worker has a newly allowed condition which wasn’t considered at the time PTD was granted. For example, let’s say an Injured Worker is granted PTD benefits in 2010 for conditions associated with a severe back injury. Later, after PTD is granted, the injured worker has the same claim allowed for a new back condition, further down the spine, which was not present at the time PTD was granted. According to the Supreme Court, the Injured Worker can no longer seek compensation for the newly recognized condition. No matter how bad the Injured Worker’s new condition impairs them, they are not entitled to any further compensation.
In Ohio Presbyterian, the Supreme Court reasoned that the plain meaning of the statute is clear, and therefore, they cannot add or subtract meaning from words which do not exist in the statute. This holding is ironic considering that Ohio Courts, including the Supreme Court, have authorized the Industrial Commission to utilize the “Voluntary Abandonment” defense to deny Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits to Injured Workers every day. There is no mention of “Voluntary Abandonment” anywhere in the TTD statute, yet Ohio Courts have certainly added it into existing case law anyway giving permission to the Industrial Commission to deny benefits by the hundreds. Over the last 20 years, Injured Worker rights have slowly been taken away, brick by brick, with court decisions and new workers compensation laws which do not favor injured workers. In order to let lawmakers understand that working Ohioans do not approve of our rights being extinguished, visit http://www.ohiohouse.gov/ in order to contact your State Representative and let your feelings be known.
Michael J. Myers, Esq.