Opinion ID: 2633391
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the Industrial Commission err in failing to specifically address whether the claimant had proven a failed work attempt under the odd-lot doctrine?

Text: The Industrial Commission adopted the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of law and found that Gooby had failed to prove that she was totally and permanently disabled under the odd-lot doctrine. Gooby then filed a motion for reconsideration, contending that the Commission had failed to address whether Gooby had proven a failed work attempt as a means of establishing a prima facie case of total and permanent disability under the odd-lot doctrine. The Commission denied the motion for reconsideration without specifically addressing the issue of failed work attempt. Claimants may prove that they are totally and permanently disabled by demonstrating that they fit within the definition of an odd-lot worker. Lyons v. Industrial Special Indem. Fund, 98 Idaho 403, 565 P.2d 1360 (1977). The odd-lot category is for those workers who are so injured that they can perform no services other than those that are so limited in quality, dependability or quantity that a reasonably stable market for them does not exist. Id. Such workers need not be physically unable to perform any work at all. Id. They are simply not regularly employable in any well-known branch of the labor market absent a business boom, the sympathy of a particular employer or friends, temporary good luck, or a superhuman effort on their part. Id. If the evidence of the medical and nonmedical factors places a claimant prima facie in the odd-lot category, the burden is then on the employer or surety to show that some kind of suitable work is regularly and continuously available to the claimant. Id. A prima facie case for odd-lot status is made when a claimant shows: (1) that he or she had attempted other types of employment without success; or (2) that he or she, or vocational counselors or employment agencies on his or her behalf, have searched for other work and other work is not available; or (3) that any efforts to find suitable employment would be futile. Dehlbom v. Industrial Special Indem. Fund, 129 Idaho 579, 930 P.2d 1021 (1997). In her post-hearing brief, Gooby claimed that the evidence established a prima facie case for odd-lot status under alternatives (1) and (3). The referee found that Gooby had failed to prove that any efforts to find suitable employment would be futile but the referee did not address whether Gooby had shown a failed work attempt. After the Industrial Commission adopted the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of law and issued its order that Gooby was not totally and permanently disabled, she filed a motion for reconsideration in which she argued that the referee had erred by failing to address the issue of failed work attempt. When denying the motion for reconsideration, the Commission likewise did not specifically address this issue. Gooby contends that the Commission's failure to do so constitutes error. Although the Commission refused to specifically address the issue of whether Gooby had established a failed work attempt, there is no basis for vacating the Commission's order because Gooby did not offer any evidence showing a failed work attempt. Gooby argued that she had shown a failed work attempt because she was unable to perform the same job she was doing at the time of her injury. In her post-hearing brief, Gooby argued as follows: Barbara Gooby contends that her sporadic employment in 1998 and 1999 constitute a prima facie case of odd-lot status by the first method [showing what other types of employment she has attempted]. She does not argue that she or others searched for employment, although she did follow up with an employment application at Coldwater Creek at Tom Moreland' [sic] request. [1] In the brief supporting her motion for reconsideration, Gooby made the same argument. First, the referee ignored the fact that claimant Barbara Gooby proved her prima facie case of odd lot disability by the first method under Huerta v. School Dist. No. 431, 116 Idaho 43, 48-49, 773 P.2d 1130, 1135-36 (1989), a failed work attempt. Barbara Gooby proved that ever since the industrial accident she has missed progressively more days at work as a result of the injuries she sustained from that accident, culminating in the last year only working one or two days per week. This is a failed work attempt. A claimant cannot establish a failed work attempt merely by showing that he or she is unable to perform his or her previous type of employment. In Gordon v. West, 103 Idaho 100, 645 P.2d 334 (1982), the claimant, a 57-year-old truck driver, was injured in an industrial accident. He testified that as a result, he had continuing pain in his neck, left shoulder, and between his shoulder blades, he could not lift heavy objects above his waist, and his arms became numb while driving. The Industrial Commission found that the claimant's disability rating amounted to 15% of the whole man, and the claimant appealed, contending that he had established a prima facie case under the odd-lot doctrine by his testimony that he had attempted to work as a truck driver several times after the accident, but his neck pain and the numbness in his arms kept him from doing so. In holding that such evidence was not sufficient to prove a prima facie case under the odd-lot doctrine, this Court stated as follows: A claimant must do more than assert that he cannot perform his previous type of employment in order to qualify as an odd lot worker. As in the Lyons case, he must show what other types of employment he has attempted. The commission, as the factfinder, must consider whether the claimant has tried and could not perform other work. In the absence of such a showing, claimant failed to establish that there was no suitable occupation available to him. Id. at 104-05, 645 P.2d at 338-39; (Emphasis in original). The holding in Gordon v. West has been followed in subsequent cases. Huerta v. School Dist. # 431, 116 Idaho 43, 773 P.2d 1130 (1989) (where claimant had done nothing to seek employment other than to apply for re-employment with the employer for whom he was working at the time of his industrial accident, the claimant failed to show that he had attempted other work that he was capable of performing); Nelson v. David L. Hill Logging, 124 Idaho 855, 865 P.2d 946 (1993) (where claimant had made four unsuccessful attempts to return to work that involved heavy use of his injured leg, he did not establish a failed work attempt); Dehlbom v. Industrial Special Indem. Fund, 129 Idaho 579, 930 P.2d 1021 (1997) (where, after knee injury while employed as a welder, claimant only attempted to perform the same type of work which involved heavy use of his injured leg, he failed to establish a failed work attempt); Boley v. Industrial Special Indemnity Fund, 130 Idaho 278, 939 P.2d 854 (1997) (where claimant did not attempt to obtain either another position with his employer or employment with some other employer, he failed to establish a failed work attempt). Because Gooby did not offer evidence showing that she unsuccessfully attempted to perform some other type of employment, she failed to establish that she had attempted other types of employment without success. Under this manner of establishing a prima facie case under the odd-lot doctrine, it is not sufficient merely to show that she was unable to continue performing the job she had at the time of her injury. Therefore, there is no reason to vacate the Commission's order in order to remand this case for a specific finding on this issue.