COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Chief Judge Moon, Judge Annunziata and 

 Senior Judge Duff 

Argued at Alexandria, Virginia 

METRO BUILDING SUPPLY, INC., ET AL. 

v. Record No. 1946-95-4 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

 CHIEF JUDGE NORMAN K. MOON 

ROBERT CHARLES CHRISTIANSEN, JR. MARCH 5, 1996 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 Joseph C. Veith, III (Montedonico, Hamilton & 

Altman, P.C., on briefs), for appellants. 

 Craig A. Brown (Ashcraft & Gerel, on brief), 

for appellee. 

 Metro Building Supply, Inc. appeals the commission's ruling 

that Robert C. Christiansen, Jr., cured his earlier refusal of 

light duty employment through acceptance of a comparable job with 

Professional Boiler Works. We affirm the commission's ruling. 

 The issue in this case is cure of an unjustified refusal of 

selective employment. In Christiansen v. Metro Building Supply, 

Inc., 18 Va. App. 721, 447 S.E.2d 519 (1994), we held that 

Christiansen could cure an unjustified refusal to accept 

selective employment at Metro Building Supply if he found and 

accepted a job comparable to the one he had refused. We also 

found that as a matter of law, Christiansen had not cured his 

unjustified refusal through acceptance of a job at Professional 

Boiler Works. This ruling was based on the apparently 

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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substantial discrepancy between the salary at the light duty job 

that Christiansen refused and his earnings at Professional Boiler 

Works. 

 On rehearing, we determined that our assumptions concerning 

the earnings at the two jobs were inaccurate, and that the 

earnings were issues of fact that should be determined by the 

commission. We therefore remanded the case to the commission for 

findings of fact and conclusions of law as to whether under 

Virginia Wayside Furniture, Inc. v. Burnette, 17 Va. App. 74, 435 

S.E.2d 156 (1993), Christiansen had cured his prior justified 

refusal of selective employment. Christiansen v. Metro Building 

Supply, 19 Va. App. 513, 453 S.E.2d 302 (1995). 

 On remand, the commission did not take new evidence, instead 

deciding the issue on the record before it. In the opinion on 

reconsideration, this Court stated that it could not decide the 

issue as a matter of law "on this record". Based on this 

statement, Metro Building Supply argues that the commission erred 

in not supplementing the record. However, the Court did not 

require the commission to take more evidence. The Court 

determined that it could not, on review, make the factual 

findings necessary to decide the issue, and remanded the case so 

the commission could do so. The commission has complied with the 

Court's mandate. 

 Whether an employee has cured an unjustified refusal of 

selective employment by securing a comparable job elsewhere is 

determined by an objective standard of reasonableness and depends 
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on the particular circumstances of each situation. Virginia 

Wayside Furniture, 17 Va. App. at 79; 435 S.E.2d at 160. On 

review, we view the evidence on this question in the light most 

favorable to Christiansen, the prevailing party below. National 

Linen Service v. McGuinn, 8 Va. App. 267, 270, 380 S.E.2d 31, 33 

(1989). Where, as here, there is no conflict in the evidence, 

the question of sufficiency of the evidence is one of law. Id. 

 The commission determined that Christiansen had earned $380 

per week in the light duty job at Metro Building Supply. Metro 

Building Supply does not dispute this finding. It also found 

that Christiansen's new light duty job would pay an average wage 

of $340 to $380 per week. The commission went on to state that 

when the hearing was held, Christiansen's time at the new job had 

been too brief to establish an average weekly wage. Nonetheless, 

in the commission's view the earnings in this job were close 

enough to that of the job he had abandoned to establish a cure of 

the prior unjustified refusal. 

 The commission's findings were based on pay stub information 

and testimony concerning Christiansen's earnings for his first 

two weeks on the job with Professional Boiler Works. This 

evidence showed a guaranteed wage of $340 per week, i.e., 40 

hours per week at $8.50 per hour, with the possibility of "an 

hour or two" of overtime. In his first week on the job, 

Christiansen earned $352.75, including overtime. These figures, 

which the parties do not dispute, establish the general range of 

earnings in the new job. They do not, however, support the 
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commission's finding that the upper bound of that range was $380 

per week. Allowing for the maximum overtime supported by the 

evidence, the most Christiansen could make per week is $365.50. 

 Thus, undisputed evidence shows that Christiansen's current 

job has earnings that are between 10.5 % and 4% less than the job 

he unjustifiably refused. Viewing the evidence in the light most 

favorable to the claimant, we hold that credible evidence 

supported the commission's finding that Christiansen has cured 

his earlier unjustified refusal of selective employment. The 

wages of the two jobs need not be identical, but merely 

comparable. Virginia Wayside Furniture, 17 Va. App. at 79-80, 

435 S.E.2d at 160. Therefore, the commission did not err in 

ruling that the claimant's job at Professional Boiler Works meets 

this standard. 

 For these reasons, the decision of the commission is 

affirmed. 

 Affirmed.