Some benefits may be due for a physical injury which does not interfere with the employee s ability to earn his full wages. But apart from such cases, an injury is not compensable unless the physical injury causes an impairment of earning capacity. Incapacity for work is the common statutory basis of benefits for total, permanent and total, and partial disability. The degree of incapacity determines whether the disability is total or partial. The determination of loss of earning capacity involves more than a medical evaluation of the employee s physical impairment.
Physical handicaps have a different impact on earning capacity in different individuals.
Education, training, age and experience affect the ability to cope with the physical effect of injury. The nature of the job, seniority status, the attitudes of personnel managers and insurance companies, the business prospects of the employer, and the strength or weakness of the economy also influence an injured employee s ability to hold a job or obtain a new position. The goal of disability adjudication is to make a realistic appraisal of the medical effect of a physical injury on the individual claimant and award compensation for the resulting impairment of earning capacity, discounting the effect of all other factors . . . Nowhere in his decision does the hearing judge discuss how Ms. Fortier s age, work training and experience, education, and physical limitations affect her ability to perform remunerative work in the open labor market. Nor does he make a finding about the credibility of the employee s complaint of pain.