Disability Law

DOAH: Claimant Not Entitled to "Rehab TTD"

By David A. McCranie, Esq.

When an injured worker is unable to obtain "suitable gainful employment" because of injuries sustained on the job, the Department of Education, Div. of Vocational Rehabilitation, offers "training and education" to the worker to assist him in doing so.  And §440.491(6)(b), Fla. Stat., says that a worker who (1) has attained maximum medical improvement, (2) is unable to earn at least 80% of his compensation rate, and (3) requires "training and education" in order to return to "suitable gainful employment," is entitled to receive temporary total disability benefits - so called "rehab TTD" benefits -  from the employer/carrier for up to 52 weeks while he undergoes the retraining.

But in Rooms to Go/Broadspire v. Loveall (Fla. Div. Admin. Hrgs. January 13, 2009), the Division of Administrative Hearings ("DOAH") recommended that the worker be denied such disability benefits.  The hearing officer found (1) that the claimant there actually had no physical limitations caused by his on-the-job accident, and (2) that he was discharged from his post-accident employment for "good cause" unrelated to his accident or any resutling physical limitations.

Note that even though this case involves the payment of workers' compensation disability benefits, DOAH, not the Office of the Judge of Compensation Claims, has jurisdiction over these cases.

Full post as published by Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Blog on February 01, 2009 (boomark / email).