Termination Due to Cause from Post-Injury Employment A recently issued Appellate Division case provides some clarity to the murky question as to what effect, if any, does termination due to cause have on the analysis of an injured worker’s post-injury earning capacity. In O’Leary v. Northern Maine Medical Center, the employee sustained a 2011 back… Read more »

Social Security Retirement Benefits and 14-Day Violation The Appellate Division recently issued a notable decision in a case titled Butler v. City of Portland.  This decision addresses two issues:  (1) the applicability of the Social Security retirement benefit authorized under the coordination of benefits provision in §221; and (2) whether a 14 day violation exists… Read more »

By:  Stephen Hessert Background Medicare came into being in 1935 as part of the original Social Security Act enacted by Congress.  It was described as “a federally funded health insurance program for the elderly and the disabled.”  Over the years, its cost became problematic and in the late 1970s, a General Accounting Office study suggested… Read more »

Average Weekly Wage The employee was employed by the same employer for 52 weeks prior to a December 17, 2014 injury, but for approximately 13 of those weeks she was out of work for non-occupational reasons and received STD benefits which were substantially lower than her customary weekly earnings.  The ALJ determined the average weekly… Read more »

Statute of Limitations Ten years ago the Law Court ruled in Wilson v. Bath Iron Works, 2008 ME 47, 942 A.2d 1237 that the two-year statute of limitations does not begin to run until the employer files a First Report of Injury, regardless of how much time may have passed since the injury occurred.  In… Read more »

Waiver of Issues The employee filed a Petition for Award resulting from a December 8, 2015 injury to her neck and left hand.  She also filed a Petition for Reinstatement.  She had not worked for the employer since the date of injury, and a dispute arose as to whether the employer had offered her suitable… Read more »

It has been recognized in several Law Court decisions that, generally speaking, there is no right to recover an overpayment of workers’ compensation benefits by taking an offset or by claiming reimbursement.  However, in a significant new decision, the Court has held that an employer is entitled to a credit for the value of Social… Read more »

It had been determined by the Board that the employee sustained a gradual occupational injury to his right elbow on October 29, 2000.  Several years later the employee filed a Petition for Award alleging a second gradual injury to the same portion of the body occurring on May 8, 2009.  There was conflicting medical evidence… Read more »

When parties reach agreement at mediation and the issues agreed to are reflected in the record, the record is fully binding upon the parties and has the effect of a final Board determination.  However, when no agreements are reached and the mediation is considered unresolved, the record itself has no res judicata effect. In Karimova… Read more »