An Ohio appellate court on Tuesday refused to toss scheduled-loss workers compensation benefits awarded to a worker whose foot was partially amputated in a 2021 industrial accident.
The Ohio Court of Appeals denied a bid by Randstad North America Inc. to have the state Industrial Commission vacate its awarding of loss of use benefits to Andrew Bullard, whose foot needed to be partially amputated after it was crushed by a forklift.
A hearing officer awarded loss of use benefits to Mr. Bullard in March 2022. Randstad appealed, arguing the hearing officer erred because Mr. Bullard’s foot was only partially amputated and there was no finding that the loss of use of the foot was a permanent condition warranting loss of use compensation.
The Industrial Commission denied Randstad’s appeal, and the employer appealed in civil court.
While refusing to toss the claimants award entirely, the appeals court did determine that Randstad was entitled to limited relief and remanded the case to the Industrial Commission.
The court said the commission abused its discretion when it “failed to specifically state what evidence it relied upon and explain its reasoning for its apparent conclusion that claimant’s loss of use was permanent.”
“Because the issue of permanency is inextricably intertwined with the employer’s remaining arguments related to loss of use, the matter must be returned to the commission for a determination on permanency before the employer’s other arguments may be addressed,” the court wrote.