Opinion ID: 1889404
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Summary of Legislative History

Text: [¶ 17] In 1987 and 1989, the Legislature understood total incapacity to include, in some situations, employees with partial physical incapacity. Pursuant to section 54-B as amended in 1987, an employee could establish entitlement to total benefits by showing either (1) a total physical incapacity to perform any work, part-time or full-time, regardless of actual availability, or, (2) if the physical incapacity is partial, by establishing the unavailability due to the injury of part-time or full-time work in the employee's local community and that the employee is also physically unable to perform full-time work in the statewide labor market, regardless of the availability of that work. The statutory amendment to section 55-B in 1989 was not intended to alter the law in 1987, but to clarify the work-search requirement for those employees who physically were able to perform some work in the local community and full-time work in the statewide labor market. [3]