The Ohio Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision Tuesday denied permanent disability to a warehouse worker who injured her back in 2013 and later had unsuccessful spine surgery.
Donna Kidd applied for permanent total disability in 2018, saying she used a back brace and could not sit nor stand for long without experiencing pain, according to State ex rel. Kidd v. Indus. Comm.
The state high court, in reversing a district court ruling that found Ms. Kidd incapable of finding work that could accommodate her restrictions, cited a doctor’s report that said she was “capable of performing sedentary work in some environments and, when combined with (her) nonmedical disability factors, support a determination that claimant is capable of sustaining remunerative employment.”
The dissenting justices, noting other doctors disagreed with that assessment, said the majority based its assessment on modern workplace flexibility while admitting “that all the experts in this case agree that (Ms.) Kidd lacks the ability to work for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time without changing position or resting.” They said the “restrictions are so limiting that Ms. Kidd would find it very difficult to find an employer willing to accommodate such requirements.”