Can an Injured Virginia Worker EVER Win a Marketing Case ?
Posted by: Doug in Disability, Job Accidents, preparing for Court, Workers Compensation
Injured workers need to be ready to "show" and not just "tell" a Virginia Workers Compensation judge what they have done to look for light work that they CAN do
It’s gotten harder, but the short answer, according to Herndon Reston workplace injury lawyer Doug Landau is “yes.” Two 2010 cases made it look like a partial disabled worker would always lose on the issue of marketing unless they were “pounding pavement” every single day.
In the 2010 Ruffin case, the Full Virginia Workers Comp Commission (“VWC”) affirmed the trial judge’s denial of benefits on the basis that she had not adequately marketed her remaining physical abilities in order to find light duty work that she could actually do. The injured worker’s evidence included 97 job searches, the vast majority of which were online. Even though she also had taken classes at the local library in her desire to be taught a new skill for employment, the VWC found the disabled worker’s computer searches over an 10 month period were not adequate marketing. Likewise, the same year in the Simon vs. Kmart case, the injured worker was seeking continued wage loss (indemnity) benefits and had contacted 15 potential employers through online resources over a 2 month period. He did not register with the Virginia Employment Commission (“VEC”) or directly contact any employer in person or by telephone. In denying the disabled claimant workers comp benefits, the court found that the evidence as a whole did not substantiate a “reasonable, bonified effort to locate suitable employment.” So what kind of effort WILL satisfy the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission ? In tomorrow’s post we will look at a winning decision and the evidence required under the evolving standards in light of the increasing use of the internet.
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