High Court Rules Judges Can Award TD After Maximum Medical Improvement

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that an administrative law judge has the discretion to award ongoing temporary disability benefits to a worker who has reached maximum medical improvement in lieu of permanent partial disability benefits and up to the statutory maximum of 520 weeks. The high court said the appeals court erred when it looked beyond the text of the statutes themselves and analyzed the legislative intent of amendments adopted in 1993 to conclude that ALJs lack such discretion. The high court also rejected the contention that those amendments essentially nullified its 1943 deci...