TIDBITS
workers ’ compensation insurance limit
An appeals court upheld the constitutionality of a workers ’ compensation insurance limit challenged by a man who needed knee surgery nearly 19 years after being injured on the job . A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled against Ted Doss Jr ., a UPS employee who was injured in November 1997 and received treatment under the workers ’ compensation system . In September 2016 , he underwent knee surgery because of the injury and was off work for about four months . UPS and its insurer did not pay temporary total disability benefits for the time Doss was unable to work , according to court documents . That decision stemmed from part of state law that says such benefits expire 401 weeks after the date of an injury . The workers ’ compensation system is generally designed to provide benefits in exchange for shielding employers from lawsuits . But Doss argued the 401-week limit was unconstitutional . “ As applied to this case , the 401-week limitation results in an unfair and unreasonable statutory gap and removes any adequate remedy ,” Doss ’ attorney Amie DeGuzman , wrote in a brief last year . “ When a physician chosen by the employer / carrier takes a worker out of work to do curative or remedial treatment , that worker is without compensation if more than 401 weeks consecutively has passed since the date of accident . This is a statutory gap .” But the appeals court disagreed in a six-page ruling written by Judge Clay Roberts and joined by Chief Judge Lori Rowe and Judge Adam Tanenbaum . The ruling , partially quoting
The workers ’ compensation system is generally designed to provide benefits in exchange for shielding employers from lawsuits .
legal precedent , said “ the ultimate question here is whether the statute , with this 401- week limitation , ‘ passes constitutional muster ’ because it ‘ remains a reasonable alternative to tort litigation ,’ where a worker ‘ is not without a remedy .’ Applying this standard to these facts , we conclude that this statute is constitutional as applied to claimant .”
NOVEMBER 2021 • DITCHMEN 33