NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
Indiana Court of Appeals Upholds Order of TTD Owed for Period During Which Employee Terminated for Misconduct
The Indiana Court of Appeals has clarified an issue long disputed by the Indiana worker’s compensation community. That is, whether TTD (temporary total disability) is owed when plaintiff is unavailable for work for reasons unrelated to the injury per I.C. 22-3-3-7(c). In this case employee had been terminated for misconduct. Employee contended he could not do the fully duty work he had been released to do resulting in a verbal altercation with his supervisor in which he cursed and threw an ice pack. The court affirmed the Board decision ordering payment of temporary total disability benefits from the date of injury to the date of decision and ongoing.
In Masterbrand Cabinets v. Waid, Court of Appeals Case No. 93A-1609-EX-2228, the court confirmed that I.C. 22-3-3-7(c), allows termination of TTD benefits where the employee is unable or unavailable to work for reasons unrelated to the injury (i.e., termination of employment for misconduct), but noted that the statute does not require the work to be for the same employer as when the employee was injured. Rather, the court determined that even though the employee was terminated from his employment, the relevant inquiry is whether his inability to work, even for other employers, was related to his injury. Since his inability to work was related to his injury, and his termination occurred prior to having received any TTD benefits (there was no “termination of benefits” involved), Waid’s termination for misconduct did not prevent him from receiving TTD benefits as a result of his injury. The court’s language stating the relevant inquiry is whether the inability to workany job is related to employee’s injury would appear to apply to instances where employee’s work has been terminated with the relevant employer regardless of the basis and whether voluntary or involuntary.