Winter 2007 SBH Quarterly Newsletter
PDF FormatOregon Workers' Compensation: Court Decisions
Return to modified work ends entitlement to TTD.
You no longer need to obtain the attending physician's approval of a modified job to which the worker has actually returned to continue paying TPD after the worker is terminated from (or, by implication, quits) the modified job. The court held a return to modified work ends the worker's entitlement to TTD under ORS 656.268(4)(a) and termination of the modified work for reasons unrelated to the compensable injury without a change in work restrictions does not revive the worker's entitlement to TTD. Rather, it allows the continuation of TPD at the rate the worker was earning at the time of the termination. SAIF v. Fidel Vivanco, __ P3d __ (November 28, 2007).
Occupational disease claims difficult to deny as untimely.
The court affirmed an occupational disease claim is timely if it is filed within one year of the latest of any of the four events listed in ORS 656.807(1): the date the worker first discovered; in the exercise of reasonable care should have discovered the occupational disease; the date the claimant becomes disabled; or date worker is informed by a physician that he/she is suffering from an occupational disease. Therefore, to deny an occupational disease claim as untimely, one year must have passed from the latest event. SAIF v. Sherrel R. Hawkins, __ P3d __ (November 28, 2007).
There have been no significant Oregon Workers' Compensation Board Decisions this quarter.
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