Opinion ID: 1615386
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Amount of Benefits.

Text: St. Luke's challenges the award of thirty-five percent industrial disability on the basis the award lacks substantial support in the record. The main thrust of its argument is that the disability finding ignores the fact that Gray currently has a job, at higher pay, and ignores the existence of nursing-related jobs in settings other than hospitals or doctors' offices. Our workers' compensation law divides permanent partial disability into either a scheduled or unscheduled loss. See Iowa Code § 85.34(2). Specific scheduled disabilities are determined by the functional method, that is, by determining the impairment of the employee's body function. Mortimer v. Fruehauf Corp., 502 N.W.2d 12, 15 (Iowa 1993); see Iowa Code § 85.34(2)(a)-(t). Compensation for scheduled disabilities is not based on the claimant's earning capacity. Sherman v. Pella Corp., 576 N.W.2d 312, 320 (Iowa 1998). Unscheduled losses, on the other hand, are compensated by determining the employee's industrial disability. Mortimer, 502 N.W.2d at 15; see Iowa Code § 85.34(2)(u). Industrial disability measures an injured worker's lost earning capacity. Myers v. F.C.A. Servs., Inc., 592 N.W.2d 354, 356 (Iowa 1999). A latex allergy injury is an unscheduled injury. See Iowa Code § 85.34(2). Therefore, it is compensated by determining lost earning capacity. This inquiry cannot be answered merely by exploring the limitations on [a claimant's] ability to perform physical activity associated with employment. It requires consideration of all the factors that bear on [the claimant's] actual employability. Second Injury Fund v. Hodgins, 461 N.W.2d 454, 456 (Iowa 1990) (quoting Guyton v. Irving Jensen Co., 373 N.W.2d 101, 104 (Iowa 1985)). These factors include a consideration of not only the claimant's functional disability, but also her age, education, qualifications, experience, and ability to engage in similar employment. Myers, 592 N.W.2d at 356. The focus is not solely on what the worker can and cannot do; the focus is on the ability of the worker to be gainfully employed. Id. A showing of actual reduction in the employee's earnings is not always necessary to demonstrate an injury-caused reduction in earning capacity. Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. v. Tasler, 483 N.W.2d 824, 831 (Iowa 1992). While Gray will be employable in other settings, as St. Luke's argues, the commissioner found that she is no longer able to engage in many positions similar to what she had at St. Luke's and has therefore suffered a loss of earning capacity. Substantial evidence supports that conclusion and the award of thirty-five percent industrial disability. AFFIRMED.