Case Title: State ex rel. Oldaker v. Indus. Comm’n

Citation: 2015-Ohio-2569

Docket Number: 2014-0460

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2015-06-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. Oldaker v. Indus. Comm., Slip Opinion No. 2015-Ohio-2569.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2015-OHIO-2569 
THE STATE EX REL. OLDAKER, APPELLANT, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF 
OHIO ET AL., APPELLEES. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Oldaker v. Indus. Comm., Slip Opinion  
No. 2015-Ohio-2569.] 
Workers’ Compensation—R.C. 4123.56(B)—Wage-loss compensation—Injured 
worker unable to return to former position must provide evidence of 
having made good-faith effort to search for comparably paying suitable 
employment. 
(No. 2014-0460—Submitted April 14, 2015—Decided June 30, 2015.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, No. 13AP-288,  
2014-Ohio-470. 
_______________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Appellant, Kenneth D. Oldaker II, appeals the judgment of the Tenth 
District Court of Appeals denying his request for a writ of mandamus that would 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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require appellee Industrial Commission to award him compensation for working 
wage loss.  The court of appeals determined that the evidence in the record 
supported the commission’s decision to deny Oldaker’s application, because he 
failed to make a good-faith effort to search for comparably paying suitable 
employment when unable to return to his former position as a firefighter. 
{¶ 2} We agree and affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. 
Facts 
{¶ 3} On April 20, 2009, Oldaker was injured in the course and scope of 
his employment with the city of Columbus, Division of Fire.  He had been with 
the fire division since 1987 and was a lieutenant at the time of his injury.  His 
workers’ compensation claim was allowed for sprained right knee, right knee 
medial meniscus tear, and substantial aggravation of preexisting right knee 
degenerative joint disease.  He received temporary-total-disability compensation 
for a period of time.  On January 25, 2012, the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund 
granted Oldaker’s application for a partial-disability retirement. 
{¶ 4} On April 30, 2012, Oldaker accepted a position as a deer herd 
manager with Crosswoods Whitetails, L.L.C., a company owned by his wife that 
raises deer for breeding, hunting, and meat.  Oldaker worked 35 hours a week at 
$9.50 an hour, earning approximately $332.50 a week. 
{¶ 5} On June 18, 2012, Oldaker applied to the Bureau of Workers’ 
Compensation for wage-loss compensation to partially compensate him for the 
difference between his average weekly wage as a firefighter and his lower 
earnings from Crosswoods.  A commission staff hearing officer determined that 
Oldaker’s current position was medically suitable work but that it was not 
comparably paying because his earnings of $322.50 a week in that position were 
far below his average weekly wage of $1,677.85 as a firefighter.  The hearing 
officer noted that after a relatively brief job search, Oldaker did not continue a 
good-faith search for comparably paying work once he was hired by Crosswoods, 
January Term, 2015 
 
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despite his obligation under former Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01(D)(1)(c), 1996-
1997 Ohio Monthly Record 1992-1993, effective May 15, 1997, to do so.1  The 
hearing officer denied Oldaker’s application. 
{¶ 6} Oldaker filed this action in the Tenth District Court of Appeals 
seeking a writ of mandamus.  The court of appeals denied the writ, stating: 
 
Relator searched for comparably paying suitable work for a 
little more than one month before taking a low paying job with his 
wife’s company, working out of their home.  Relator stopped all 
efforts to search for comparably paying suitable work after taking 
the job with his wife’s company.  Given these undisputed facts, we 
find that the commission did not abuse its discretion in denying 
[working-wage-loss] compensation. 
 
10th Dist. Franklin No. 13AP-288, 2014-Ohio-470, ¶ 5. 
{¶ 7} Oldaker’s appeal as of right is before the court. 
Legal Analysis 
{¶ 8} R.C. 4123.56(B) provides for compensation for wage loss for 
persons unable to return to a former position of employment due to a workplace 
injury or occupational disease, but still able to do some work.  If eligible, the 
injured worker may be entitled to receive a percentage of the difference between 
the prior and current income for up to 200 weeks.  See State ex rel. Ameen v. 
Indus. Comm., 100 Ohio St.3d 161, 2003-Ohio-5362, 797 N.E.2d 78. 
                                                 
1  Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01 was revised effective February 13, 2014.  Many of its provisions 
were renumbered but are substantially similar to the former provisions.  All references in this 
opinion are to the previous version of the rule, which was in effect at the time of Oldaker’s 
application for wage-loss compensation.  See 1996-1997 Ohio Monthly Record 1990, effective 
May 15, 1997. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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{¶ 9} To be entitled to wage-loss compensation, the worker must 
demonstrate an actual wage loss caused by the allowed conditions of the claim.  
State ex rel. Reamer v. Indus. Comm., 77 Ohio St.3d 450, 452, 674 N.E.2d 1384 
(1997); State ex rel. Watts v. Schottenstein Stores Corp., 68 Ohio St.3d 118, 121, 
623 N.E.2d 1202 (1993).  At the time of Oldaker’s application, former Ohio 
Adm.Code 4125-1-01(C) and (D), 1996-1997 Ohio Monthly Record at 1991-
1993, were the provisions that required him to provide evidence of having made a 
good-faith effort to search for comparably paying suitable work along with a 
physician’s opinion of all medical restrictions. 
{¶ 10} “Suitable employment” is work within the claimant’s physical 
capabilities.  Former Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01(A)(7), 1996-1997 Ohio Monthly 
Record at 1990.  Employment is “comparably paying work” if the claimant’s 
weekly rate of pay is equal to or greater than the average weekly wage paid in the 
former position.  Former Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01(A)(8), 1996-1997 Ohio 
Monthly Record at 1990.  “A good faith effort necessitates the claimant’s 
consistent, sincere, and best attempts to obtain suitable employment that will 
eliminate the wage loss.”  Former Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01(D)(1)(c). 
{¶ 11} When a claimant’s subsequent job is lower paying than the former 
position, it is subject to scrutiny to ensure that the actual wage loss is caused by 
allowed conditions of the claim and not simply a lifestyle choice.  State ex rel. 
Jones v. Kaiser Found. Hosp. Cleveland, 84 Ohio St.3d 405, 406-407, 704 N.E.2d 
570 (1999).  Under these circumstances, we use a broad-based analysis that looks 
beyond mere wage loss when deciding whether the worker’s failure to search for 
another job should be excused.  State ex rel. Timken Co. v. Kovach, 99 Ohio St.3d 
21, 2003-Ohio-2450, 788 N.E.2d 1037, ¶ 24-25. 
{¶ 12} Oldaker contends that his Crosswoods job is comparably paying 
work despite the obvious disparity in wages.  Oldaker relies on the vocational 
evaluation conducted for his disability retirement, which resulted in a report 
January Term, 2015 
 
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stating that his earning capacity had been significantly reduced after he left the 
fire department. 
{¶ 13} The commission, as the exclusive evaluator of disability and 
employability, was not required to rely on this vocational evidence, even if it was 
uncontradicted.  See State ex rel. Jackson v. Indus. Comm., 79 Ohio St.3d 266, 
270-271, 680 N.E.2d 1233 (1997).  Furthermore, the vocational-evaluation report 
does not fully support Oldaker’s position, given that it included the statement that 
Oldaker had “expressed no interest in beginning a new career at this time and 
plans on working on a part time basis only if he has too [sic].” 
{¶ 14} Oldaker also maintains that he was not required to continue his job 
search because his new job was full-time with the potential for future growth.  See 
State ex rel. Brinkman v. Indus. Comm., 87 Ohio St.3d 171, 174, 718 N.E.2d 897 
(1999) (claimant’s failure to continue his job search was excused after he obtained 
lucrative part-time work with a realistic possibility that it would become full-
time).  The commission concluded that unlike the situation in Brinkman, there 
was no evidence that Oldaker reasonably expected his new job to soon develop 
into comparably paying work and he therefore remained obligated to continue his 
job search. 
{¶ 15} The evidence demonstrates that Oldaker failed to make “consistent, 
sincere, and best attempts to obtain suitable employment that will eliminate the 
wage loss” as required by former Ohio Adm.Code 4125-1-01(D)(1)(c).  He 
accepted a low-paying, entry-level job in the family business after a relatively 
brief search for other work.  As related in the staff hearing officer’s order, 
Oldaker told the hearing officer that he had not searched for work since his date 
of hire, stating “ ‘[w]hy would I?  I have a job.’ ” 
{¶ 16} We agree with the court of appeals that the commission did not 
abuse its discretion in denying Oldaker’s request for wage-loss compensation.  
Consequently, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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Judgment affirmed. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, KENNEDY, 
FRENCH, and O’NEILL, JJ., concur. 
___________________ 
Law Office of Thomas Tootle Co., L.P.A., and Thomas Tootle, for 
appellant. 
Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Stephen D. Plymale, Assistant 
Attorney General, for appellee Industrial Commission. 
 
Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr., Columbus City Attorney, and Wendy S. Kane, 
Assistant City Attorney, for appellee city of Columbus. 
___________________