Injured Worker Establishes Entitlement to Expand Scope of Claim

An Ohio appellate court upheld a trial judge’s determination that an injured worker should have been allowed to expand the scope of her claim. Rhonda Schmidt worked for Lincoln Electric Co. She filed a workers’ compensation claim in 2016, seeking benefits for a respiratory illness allegedly caused by her exposure to chemicals at work. The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation allowed the claim for occupational asthma, sinusitis and chemical sensitivity. In 2023, Schmidt moved for additional allowances of spinal stenosis in the cervical spine, osteoporosis of the cervic...