Opinion ID: 2292655
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Meaningful Return to Work

Text: The second issue we address is whether Employee had a meaningful return to work. Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-241(d)(1)(A), an employee injured after July 1, 2004, is not entitled to receive a permanent partial disability award greater than one and one-half times the employee's medical impairment rating if the employee has had a meaningful return to work. See Tryon v. Saturn Corp., 254 S.W.3d 321, 327-28 & n. 8 (Tenn.2008). However, when the injured employee is found not to have had a meaningful return to work, this cap is increased to six times the medical impairment rating pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-241(d)(2)(A). Tryon, 254 S.W.3d at 328. We have previously stated that the determination of whether an employee has experienced a meaningful return to work is fact-dependent and requires courts to assess the reasonableness of the employer in attempting to return the employee to work and the reasonableness of the employee in failing to either return to or remain at work. Id. (citing Lay v. Scott Cnty. Sheriff's Dep't, 109 S.W.3d 293, 297-98 (Tenn. 2003); Nelson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 8 S.W.3d 625, 630 (Tenn.1999)). The trial court ruled that Employee did not experience a meaningful return to work because the conditions under which he was required to return, and the time frame under which he was required to return, were not reasonable under the attending circumstances and that the work offered to Employee by Employer would have been only temporary at best. The evidence does not preponderate against these findings. Employee was forty years old at the time of trial and had a tenth grade education. He had worked primarily as a truck driver and had held a commercial drivers' license for over fifteen years. He sustained a serious injury to his shoulder in the accident that required two surgical procedures. By letter dated August 31, 2007, Employer offered Employee light duty work in Memphis just two weeks after his second surgery. Employee declined this offer. After he was released from the care of Dr. Pearce on October 24, 2007, Employee went to work for Roger Hinson Trucking in Bolivar, Tennessee, making over-the-road runs. However, Employee quit this job after two and one-half months because he could not tolerate the pain caused by his job duties. He later took a job repossessing vehicles and driving a snatch truck, which did not involve as much physical labor and was done mainly with buttons and mechanical lifting and pulling. Employee testified he can no longer perform his over-the-road truck driving duties. Employer argues that Employee had a meaningful return to work. Employer asserts that it offered him the position in Memphis but that Employee chose not to accept it. In our view, Employee acted reasonably in refusing Employer's offer. At the time the offer was made, he was still under the care of Dr. Pearce and was still in pain and receiving physical therapy treatments for several hours every other day in McKenzie, Tennessee. Because of the driving distance involved, Employee could not have worked in Memphis and continued his physical therapy in McKenzie. Although Employer argues that Employee could have received his physical therapy treatments in Memphis, the letter offering him the light duty position did not so indicate and there is no proof that Employer advised Employee that he would be provided physical therapy in Memphis. Thus, as far as Employee knew, in order to accept the position, which was an unspecified temporary position, he would have had to give up his ongoing medical treatment. Employer also argues that Employee acted unreasonably in failing to return to work with Employer after being released by Dr. Pearce in October of 2007 and instead obtained employment elsewhere repossessing vehicles. Employer's argument is without merit. Employee testified that he was terminated by Employer before he was released by Dr. Pearce, and the evidence does not preponderate to the contrary. Further, there is no proof that he was offered any position with Employer after the letter of August 31, 2007. In sum, the record confirms that Employee acted reasonably in failing to accept Employer's offer of light-duty employment and thus did not have a meaningful return to work. Accordingly, the statutory cap of one and one-half times the medical impairment rating does not apply.