OH - Supreme Court Upholds Denial of TTD for Worker Who Rejected Light-Duty Job Offer
12/05/2025 | 0
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the denial of temporary total disability benefits to a worker who failed to show up for a light-duty position that his doctor said was within his capabilities.
Evangelo Papageorgiou worked for Avalotis Corp. He injured his neck at work in May 2018 and underwent surgery on the day of the injury.
On June 5, 2018, Dr. Jason Young advised Papageorgiou that he could return to light-duty work with no heavy lifting.
On June 28, 2018, an Avalotis project manager offered Papageorgiou light-duty work and advised him to report to a jobsite the following day.
Dr. John L. ...
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A Southern California deputy’s request for service-connected disability retirement for on-the-job back injuries was denied after he repeatedly refused recommended medical treatments.
Ventura County Deputy Sheriff Alberto Mendoza injured his back in 2014 and 2015 while working at the Todd Road Jail.
Diagnostic imaging showed degenerative disc disease and a disc herniation with material impinging on a nerve root.
In the second half of 2015, a panel-qualified medical evaluator, an orthopedic surgeon and Mendoza's treating physician advised that surgery would be the most e...
A New York appellate court upheld a finding that a worker engaged in a diligent and persistent job search within his restrictions to maintain an attachment to the labor market.
Case: Matter of Quinzo v. Millenium Services LLC, No. CV-24-1161, 11/20/2025, published.
Facts: Segundo Quinzo worked for Millenium Services LLC. He suffered injuries to his neck and shoulder at work in March 2020.
Procedural history: A workers’ compensation law judge awarded Quinzo temporary partial disability benefits from April 2022 to October 2022.
In December 2022, Millenium filed a request for Quinz...
The New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division upheld the summary dismissal of an injured worker’s intentional conduct claim against his employer.
Case: Little v. VDM Metals USA LLC, No. A-0561-24, 11/25/2025, unpublished.
Facts: VDM Metals USA LLC is a steel manufacturer. It owns and operates a steel mill where Jonathan Little worked as a material handler.
On April 20, 2020, Little’s supervisor asked him to help unload a trailer because the COVID-19 pandemic had left the mill short-staffed.
After the steel had been removed from the trailer, Little helped clear p...
I have my doubts.
Despite all the chest beating about worker safety and injury worker advocacy, few “industry leaders” have acknowledged a very serious issue: the failure to aggressively address heat risk.
We now know, from extremely well-done research, that smart, well-implemented regulations can save workers’ lives. California led the way on protections for workers, and its leadership likely saved dozens of lives.
This is from research just published in the latest HealthAffairs:
California and its neighboring states experienced similar...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the denial of a worker’s request to expand his claim.
Case: Kirk v. West Virginia Paving Inc., No. 24-786, 11/25/2025, published.
Facts: James Kirk worked for West Virginia Paving Inc.
Before suffering a compensable injury in August 2022, Kirk received treatment for back pain, left hip pain, left leg pain and sciatica several times from September 2019 through July 2020.
Kirk then sustained an injury to his lower back and stomach while pulling himself onto a safety rack at work.
A claims administrator for WVP’s insurance carrier accep...
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia proposed using the state's workers' compensation to penalize undocumented workers and the businesses that employ them.
On Wednesday, Ingoglia said he is proposing legislation that would eliminate workers' compensation coverage for undocumented workers.
Florida law currently defines an employee as someone who receives remuneration for work, "whether lawfully or unlawfully employed."
Ingoglia said eliminating work comp coverage for undocumented workers would force companies that hire them to pay out of pocket for any wo...
The Actuarial Committee for the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California is meeting on Tuesday, and the Governing Committee is meeting Wednesday.
Members of the Actuarial Committee will review insurer experience through Sept. 30 as well as studies of medical utilization trends and how climate change affects frequency, severity and specific injuries or illnesses. Committee members will also discuss actuarial and research projects, as well as a schedule of meetings for the coming year.
The Governing Committee will review the proposed actuarial and research projects for 2...
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the window for businesses to contest citations for workplace safety violations will be tolled for the days that the government was shuttered.
Employers have 15 working days to challenge an Occupational Safety and Health Administration citation.
The department said shutdown days do not count as working days, extending the time for employers to respond to citations issued immediately before or during the shutdown.
The department also announced that it didn't process complaints submitted to OSHA during the shutdown.
"The agency is now ...
The Special Investigative Unit of RJN Investigations, Inc. was recently notified of a felony arrest based upon a documented fraud referral. In this case, the claimant was employed as a caretaker of the California Department of Social Services - I.H.S.S. At the time of the claimant's deposition, he appeared wearing a back support and ambulating with the aid of a cane. Proactively,...
A California appeals court on Wednesday held that the Privette doctrine extends to a homeowner whose insurance company hired an independent contractor who was injured while inspecting a house for potential hazards.
Although Kathleen Wagner didn't directly hire Robert Andrews, the presumption that a person hiring an independent contractor has delegated control over all aspects of the work, including workplace safety, nonetheless applies because her insurer had effectively hired the inspector on her behalf, the 6th District Court of Appeal said.
"By paying her insurance carrier for in...
A New York appellate court ruled that there is no statutory prohibition on a prior attorney being granted counsel fees.
Case: Matter of Pandolfi v. Plainedge Union Free School District, No. CV-24-1068, 11/20/2025, published.
Facts: Lynn Pandolfi worked for the Plainedge Union Free School District. She suffered injuries at work in October 2017 and hired an attorney to represent her on her workers’ compensation claim.
Soon after, Pandolfi began expressing dissatisfaction with counsel's representation and disagreement with the legal strategy in several letters to the Workers' Com...
An Arizona appellate court upheld the denial of a worker’s claim of a psychological injury from mistreatment by her supervisor.
Case: Bottorff-Dragomir v. Industrial Commission, No. 1 CA-IC 25-0001, 11/24/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Tanya Bottorff-Dragomir worked for American Express as a commercial loss mitigation specialist. She worked mainly from home, and most of her work interactions were through email, text or video conference.
In August 2022, Bottorff-Dragomir filed a report of workplace injury. She claimed she suffered a work-related mental injury based on repeated psy...
Editor's note: In keeping with privacy considerations, WorkCompCentral does not name alleged victims of sexual assault or other sensitive criminal matters.
The Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that an employer could not compel arbitration of a former employee’s claim that she had been sexually assaulted at work.
Facts: St. Anthony’s Senior Living is a community owned by St. Anthony’s LLC and managed by Guest Services Inc.
The plaintiff worked as the executive director of St. Anthony’s Senior Living from June 2020 until January 2022.
When the plaintiff firs...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld an award of 0% permanent partial disability for a worker’s occupational pneumoconiosis.
Case: Foster v. Kingston Mining Inc., No. 24-783, 11/25/2025, published.
Facts: Nelson Foster underwent pulmonary function testing in May 2021. The treating doctor reported that there were no classifiable parenchymal abnormalities and no pleural abnormalities.
The doctor also indicated that there was a coalescence of small opacities, bullae and emphysema. He said there was no evidence of pneumoconiosis opacities in the lung fields.
In August 2021, anothe...
A California appeals court vacated a summary judgment awarding a workers' compensation carrier nearly $58,000 because a statement of damages was not served before the entry of defaults, and the award exceeded the relief demanded in the complaint.
The 4th District Court of Appeal also set aside an order striking the answer to the complaint that the trial court entered as a sanction after counsel for the defendants missed multiple status conferences. The court said it would be meaningless to remand the case for further proceedings after vacating summary judgment without also reinstating the...
A New York contractor paid $625,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to underreporting his payroll by more than $3.5 million.
Mahendranauth Khargie, 36, and his company, GC Stud Inc., were sentenced Monday to a conditional discharge after satisfying the restitution order.
Khargie and his company pleaded guilty in October to a felony count of insurance fraud, and the company also pleaded guilty to failing to carry workers' compensation coverage.
Nassau County prosecutors said audits by the New York State Insurance Fund revealed that Khargie underreported payroll by more than $3.5 mil...
