Opinion ID: 430492
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to consider all relevant factors.

Text: 19 The Benefits Review Board has described Section 908(h) of the Act as mandat[ing] a two-part analysis of the claimant's wage-earning capacity. Devillier v. Nat'l Steel & Shipbuilding Co., 10 BEN.REV.BD.SERV. (MB) 649, 660 (1979). The first inquiry requires the ALJ to determine whether actual post-injury wages reasonably and fairly represent wage-earning capacity. The second requires the ALJ, after having found actual wages unrepresentative, to arrive at a dollar amount which fairly and reasonably represents the claimant's wage-earning capacity. Id. Although the second inquiry need not be reached depending on the outcome of the first, the Board has held that the same factors must be considered at each level of the analysis. Id. at 660-661. In Hughes v. Litton Systems, Inc., supra, 6 BEN.REV.BD.SERV. (MB) 301, the Board set out a non-exclusive list of relevant factors which should be considered in deciding wage-earning capacity: 20 The concept of a loss of wage earning capacity encompasses more than a mere comparison of wages before and after an injury. Such factors as the beneficences of a sympathetic employer, the claimant's earning power on the open market, whether the claimant is required to expend more time, effort or expertise to achieve pre-injury production, and whether the claimant can perform his pre-injury physical work must all be taken into consideration. In addition, loss of wage earning capacity is also a forward looking concept which is to be applied in cases where medical and other circumstances indicate a probable work injury related wage loss in the future. The relatively short (one year) statute of limitations requires such a perspective. 21 Id. at 304 (citation omitted). In reversing an ALJ finding of disability in another case for failure to consider explicitly each of the factors listed above, the Board noted: 22 When an administrative law judge is setting forth in a Decision and Order his or her analysis of whether post-injury earnings fairly represent the claimant's wage-earning capacity and, if necessary, fixing a reasonable wage-earning capacity, Section 8(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 557(c), requires that he or she make explicit findings on all relevant aspects of the determination.    [W]e are not holding that the variables listed in this decision form an exhaustive list. We will not foreclose the ingenuity of counsel by pretending that every conceivable fact situation is encompassed in these factors. However, whether the listed variables or any other reasonable variables form the basis of a Decision and Order, that Decision and Order must explicitly state what considerations prompted the administrative law judge to hold as he or she did. 23 Devillier v. Nat'l Steel & Shipbuilding Co., supra, 10 BEN.REV.BD.SERV. (MB) at 661 (emphasis added; citations omitted). 24 The ALJ decision and order which is the subject of review in this case contains no such explicit findings. Although the decision does cite to the factors listed by the Board in Hughes, see ALJ Decision at 5, App. 23, the opinion contains no discussion of any of the factors other than the sympathetic employer factor. Id. at 5-6, App. 23-24. 9 Rather, the opinion focuses entirely on the fact that petitioner has been able to secure employment at wages in excess of his pre-injury wages. Id. at 6, App. 24. 10 Initial determinations on these factors must be made by the ALJ. See Devillier, supra, 10 BEN.REV.BD.SERV. (MB) at 661. We remand the case so that the statutorily mandated determinations can be made. 25