Opinion ID: 2638466
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procedure Outlined in Section 34A-2-413

Text: ¶ 20 Injured employees seeking permanent total disability compensation for work-related injuries must show by a preponderance of the evidence that they have become permanently totally disabled as a result of an industrial accident or occupational disease. Utah Code Ann. § 34A-2-413(1)(b) (2001). An administrative law judge must review the evidence to determine, essentially, whether the employee is permanently disabled and unable to perform reasonably available work. Id. § 34A-2-413(1)(c). ¶ 21 Section 34A-2-413(6) outlines the process an administrative law judge must follow when determining whether an injured employee is entitled to permanent total disability compensation. This section requires that a finding be issued in two partsan initial finding and a final finding. The initial finding of permanent total disability triggers a review period in which the employer or its insurance carrier may submit a reemployment plan. Id. § 34A-2-413(6)(a)(ii), (d). This subsection specifically states that the initial finding by the commission of permanent total disability is not final, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, until the employer has the opportunity to submit a reemployment plan, the administrative law judge reviews this reemployment plan and the reemployment activities undertaken pursuant to statute, and the administrative law judge holds a hearing. Id. § 34A-2-413(6)(a). The intent of the reemployment plan is to determine whether the injured employee can be rehabilitated in order to reenter the workforce, and a final finding of permanent total disability is held in reserve until the possibilities of reemployment are either exhausted or abandoned. Only after all of these requirements have been met does the finding of permanent total disability become final. ¶ 22 Even though the initial finding is expressly made not final by statute, section 34A-2-413(6)(b) requires that the administrative law judge order the employer to make subsistence payments during the review period between the initial and final findings of permanent total disability. Following the initial finding, and [p]rior to the finding becoming final, the administrative law judge shall order ... the initiation of permanent total disability payments to provide for the employee's subsistence. Id. § 34A-2-413(6)(b)(i) (emphasis added). Thus, through the section 34A-2-413(6)(b)(i) payments, section 34A-2-413 purports to provide injured employees with compensation until a final finding can be made regarding their disability status. ¶ 23 If the employer refuses to comply with a subsistence payment order from the administrative law judge, the employee's only apparent means of enforcement is to request that the administrative law judge issue an abstract of this interim award that can then be filed with the district court. However, to obtain the abstract from the administrative law judge, the subsistence payment order must be a final order. Therefore, even though initial findings are not final orders, we must determine whether the section 34A-2-413(6)(b)(i) order to initiate subsistence payments, which is predicated on this non-final finding, qualifies, for the purpose of issuing an abstract under section 34A-2-212, as a final order under the definition set forth above.