Opinion ID: 1788004
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Date of Disability

Text: The above illustrates that it is crucial in occupational disease cases to determine the date of disability, because until that date, the employee has suffered no compensable injury. The term disability, however, is not expressly defined in the act. In cases involving injuries resulting from accidents, we have generally stated that disability is defined in terms of employability and earning capacity rather than in terms of loss of bodily function. See Minshall v. Plains Mfg. Co., 215 Neb. 881, 341 N.W.2d 906 (1983). In occupational disease cases, however, we have referenced the concept of disability slightly differently, stating that disability results at the point when the injured worker is no longer able to render further service. Morris v. Nebraska Health System, 266 Neb. 285, 291, 664 N.W.2d 436, 441 (2003). See, also, Hull v. Aetna Ins. Co., 247 Neb. 713, 529 N.W.2d 783 (1995); Osteen v. A.C. and S., Inc., 209 Neb. 282, 307 N.W.2d 514 (1981); Hauff v. Kimball, 163 Neb. 55, 77 N.W.2d 683 (1956). We take this opportunity to clarify that the concept of disability is the same in both accident and occupational disease cases. To do so, it is necessary to examine the historical development of our occupational disease law. We held in Hauff v. Kimball, supra , that the date of injury in cases of occupational disease was the time that disability first occurred. Where an occupational disease results from the continual absorption of small quantities of some deleterious substance from the environment of the employment over a considerable period of time, an afflicted employee can be held to be `injured' only when the accumulated effects of the substance manifest themselves, which is when the employee becomes disabled and entitled to compensation; and the `date of injury,' within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act, is the date when the disability is first incurred . . . . Hauff v. Kimball, 163 Neb. at 61, 77 N.W.2d at 687. We reaffirmed that holding in Osteen v. A.C. and S., Inc., supra . We also held in Osteen that the amount of the plaintiff's award was limited to the statutory maximum in effect at the time the plaintiff stopped working, because in the case of an occupational disease such as this one, the `date of injury, within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act, is the date when the disability is first incurred . . . .' 209 Neb. at 292, 307 N.W.2d at 521, quoting Hauff v. Kimball, supra . We next addressed the date of injury for occupational diseases in Hull v. Aetna Ins. Co., supra . In Hull, a dentist became unable to work in his profession due to contact dermatitis, and in order to determine which of two successive workers' compensation insurers was liable for the dentist's disability, we were required to determine the date of injury. Hull utilized the rendering further service language for the first time, stating that the date that determines liability is the date that the employee becomes disabled from rendering further service. 247 Neb. at 719, 529 N.W.2d at 789, citing Lowery v. McCormick Asbestos Co., 300 Md. 28, 475 A.2d 1168 (1984). An examination of Lowery provides some context for this formulation of the rule: Occupational disease cases typically show a long history of exposure without actual disability, culminating in the enforced cessation of work on a definite date. In the search for an identifiable instant in time which can perform such necessary functions as to start claim periods running, establish claimant's right to benefits, determine which year's statute applies, and fix the employer and insurer liable for compensation, the date of disability has been found the most satisfactory. Legally, it is the moment at which the right to benefits accrues; as to limitations, it is the moment at which in most instances the claimant ought to know he has a compensable claim; and, as to successive insurers, it has the one cardinal merit of being definite, while such other possible dates as that of the actual contraction of the disease are usually not susceptible to positive demonstration. 300 Md. at 39-40, 475 A.2d at 1174. See 9 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson's Workers' Compensation Law § 153.02[6][a] (2003). Notably, in Hull v. Aetna Ins. Co., 247 Neb. 713, 529 N.W.2d 783 (1995), the employee dentist experienced problems with contact dermatitis from 1987 to 1991. His reaction at one point in 1988 was so significant that it affected his fingers and hands and caused him to miss almost 1 week of work. On March 13, 1989, he was treated by a physician who recommended that he cease practicing dentistry. Although he reduced his hours to 10 per week, he did not completely abandon his dental practice until 1991. On these facts and applying the above rule, we found that the occupational disease manifested itself to the level of disability on March 13, 1989, and thus that that was the date of injury. Subsequently, the Court of Appeals discussed Hull in Ross v. Baldwin Filters, 5 Neb. App. 194, 557 N.W.2d 368 (1996). In Ross, the plaintiff suffered from a skin condition that doctors linked to her employment as early as 1989. It was not until 1994, however, that the condition began to interfere with her ability to work and a doctor recommended that she quit her job. Referencing Hull, the Court of Appeals found: This analysis is consistent with the definition and general treatment of the concept of disability under Nebraska workers' compensation laws. For example, disability within the meaning of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-128 (Reissue 1993), which addresses preexisting disabilities for the purpose of the Second Injury Fund, is defined as an employee's diminution of employability or impairment of earning power or capacity. Sherard v. Bethphage Mission, Inc., 236 Neb. 900, 909, 464 N.W.2d 343, 349 (1991). For the purpose of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-121(1) and (2) (Reissue 1993) (schedule of compensation), disability is defined in terms of employability and earning capacity. Minshall v. Plains Mfg. Co., 215 Neb. 881, 885, 341 N.W.2d 906, 909 (1983). [The plaintiff's] employability at Baldwin Filters first diminished in April 1994, when her condition had progressed to the point where her employment there had to cease. Thus, we conclude that the statute of limitations did not begin to run until April 1994 . . . . Ross v. Baldwin Filters, 5 Neb. App. at 203, 557 N.W.2d at 373. In Jordan v. Morrill County, 258 Neb. 380, 389, 603 N.W.2d 411, 418 (1999), and Vonderschmidt v. Sur-Gro, 262 Neb. 551, 558, 635 N.W.2d 405, 410 (2001), we described occupational disease cases as requiring cessation of employment, as do repetitive trauma accident cases. Based on this language, the Court of Appeals concluded that the date of injury in both occupational disease and accidental injury cases was the same. See Watson v. Omaha Pub. Power Dist., 9 Neb. App. 909, 622 N.W.2d 163 (2001). However, we recently clarified this aspect of our occupational disease law in Morris v. Nebraska Health System, 266 Neb. 285, 293, 664 N.W.2d 436, 442 (2003): Jordan and Vonderschmidt are inapplicable, as they are both repetitive trauma cases. This court has consistently analyzed repetitive trauma injuries as accidents within the meaning of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-151(2) (Reissue 1998), rather than occupational diseases. . . . Accordingly, our discussion in Vonderschmidt of the discontinuation of employment standard was framed in the context of establishing an identifiable point in time when an accident occurs suddenly and violently within the meaning of § 48-151(2). However, such an inquiry is unnecessary in an occupational disease case and, as such, has no application to the issues presented by this case. Any suggestion in either Jordan or Vonderschmidt that the discontinuation of employment standard is the same for both repetitive trauma and occupational disease cases is dicta and contrary to this state's line of occupational disease case law. We further held in Morris : When considered collectively, Hauff [ v. Kimball, 163 Neb. 55, 77 N.W.2d 683 (1956)], Osteen [ v. A.C. and S., Inc., 209 Neb. 282, 307 N.W.2d 514 (1981)], and Hull [ v. Aetna Ins Co., 247 Neb. 713, 529 N.W.2d 783 (1995)] set forth the rule that in an occupational disease context, the  date of injury  is that date upon which the accumulated effects of the disease manifest themselves to the point the injured worker is no longer able to render further service. It is on that date that the occupational disease is said to manifest itself to the level of disability permitting recovery for an occupational disease pursuant to the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act. (Emphasis supplied.) 266 Neb. at 291, 664 N.W.2d at 441. [7,8] Thus, as recently as Morris, we continued to use the no longer able to render further service language when referring to disability in the occupational disease context. Read literally, this language implies that an employee must be permanently and totally disabled in order to be compensated for an occupational disease. However, as the above discussion of our occupational disease case law reveals, the phraseology means no such thing. Rather, there is no requirement in either our case law or the act that an employee be totally disabled in order for the date of injury to be established in an occupational disease case. An employee is injured, for purposes of the act, on the date when the right to compensation accrues, even if the disability is only partial in nature. We therefore now clarify that the no longer able to render further service phraseology in our occupational disease case law refers to nothing other than the date of disability, partial or total, as that term is commonly understood in workers' compensation law. We hold, restated, that a worker becomes disabled, and thus injured, from an occupational disease at the point in time when a permanent medical impairment or medically assessed work restrictions result in labor market access loss. See, Green v. Drivers Mgmt., Inc., 263 Neb. 197, 639 N.W.2d 94 (2002); Jorn v. Pigs Unlimited, Inc., 255 Neb. 876, 587 N.W.2d 558 (1998). An employee's disability caused by an occupational disease is determined by the employee's diminution of employability or impairment of earning power or earning capacity. See, Zavala v. ConAgra Beef Co., 265 Neb. 188, 655 N.W.2d 692 (2003); Frauendorfer v. Lindsay Mfg. Co., 263 Neb. 237, 639 N.W.2d 125 (2002).