The Oklahoma Supreme Court said Tuesday that an injured worker was improperly denied permanent total disability benefits from the state’s Multiple Injury Trust Fund.
The high court reversed a Workers Compensation Commission decision, which affirmed a workers comp judge’s decision to deny the claim by Gary Stricklen, who worked for the Grand River Dam Authority for two decades.
Mr. Stricklen had four previous workers comp adjudications for injuries he suffered between 2008 and 2019 at the time he filed another claim in June 2021 for permanent total disability with the trust fund, which acts as a second injury fund to provide employers with protection from liability when they hire workers with preexisting disabilities.
The fund pays 90% of the state’s permanent disability benefits.
The fund argued it wasn’t liable for the claim because the phrase “subsequent employer” in the statute that created the fund meant a claimant’s injuries must occur with an employer other than the one at the time of the most recent injury.
The workers comp judge and commission both agreed with the fund in denying the claim, but the appeals court said the claim should have been accepted because the fund misinterpreted the statute.
The term “subsequent employer” in the statute refers to the employer at the time of an employee’s “subsequent injury,” the court wrote.
The court remanded the case to the commission for further proceedings.