Can a worker who was injured two weeks before her planned retirement still collect temporary total disability benefits?
This was the issue that arose when an employer sought to terminate benefits on the grounds that temporary total disability benefits should only be payable to an employee who intends to be active in the workforce.
This issue was litigated in a case called Thomaston Mills v. Kierbow which involved a claim by a woman who was awarded benefits due to a work related knee injury. At the time of her injury, Ms. Kierbow was 68 years old and following several years of painful treatment, she let her doctor know that he planned on retiring regardless of the outcome of her case.
The insurance adjuster representing Thomaston Mills then filed papers to cut off Ms. Kiebbow’s temporary total disability benefits on the grounds that workers’ compensation benefits should only be payable to a worker who has not yet reached the end of her employment life.
After several levels of appeal, the case ended up at the Georgia Court of Appeals, which held in favor of the claimant, Ms. Kierbow. The appellate court noted that nothing in the statute suggests or states that a claimant’s right to collect temporary total disability benefits stops at the end of a person’s work life. Further, there is no way to objectively determine when a person’s work life ends. The Court went on to say:
[I]t would be virtually impossible to evaluate an intention to retire under this type of analysis because the decision to retire from the work force is not made in a vacuum. It would be the product of many factors, including but not limited to age, health, and financial status, and, as in this case, any health considerations in retirement would, at least in part if not entirely, stem from the work-related injury.
If I was advising an older client, I would advise that client to say nothing about his future intentions. Workers compensation is a very adversarial system and even an innocent remark like “I am planning on retiring” could give the employer/insurer ammunition to try to cut off a claim.
When communicating with an employer or an insurance adjuster I advise my clients to limit their talk to only the issues at hand – what happened in the accident and what parts of the body were injured. The insurance adjuster is not your friend and anything you say can be used against you.
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