Court Opinion

ID: 9710515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:11:04.864601+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:57.294562
License: Public Domain

STEADMAN, Associate Judge,
dissenting:
Both the hearing examiner and the Director summarily applied Powers as controlling without analysis. However, I can perceive possibly significant differences between the employee in Powers and petitioner here.
In Powers, the employee was fully aware of the nature of his work-related disability, and his employer had made accommodation for him so that he was suffering no wage loss. In other words, at the time he chose to leave employment, Powers was in a sense being “compensated” for lost wages as a result of his work-related disability. In the case now before us, the record is somewhat unclear as to exactly what petitioner’s scien-ter was as to her disability situation when she left the employer, and no existing accommodation had been made by the employer *1178which she voluntarily chose to give up. Additionally, petitioner had only spent several days at her new job when she was told that she could no longer work, unlike Powers who spent a number of weeks. Nowhere does the agency address these distinctions and comment on whether they are material to the outcome of the case. See 4 ARTHUR Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law § 57.62 (1997), quoted in majority opinion, supra note 3.
Deference to agency interpretations of the statutes which they administer is, of course, a hallmark of our jurisprudence. However, it is reasonable to expect that such agency interpretations be supported by appropriate analysis and consideration. See, e.g., Coumaris v. District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Bd., 660 A.2d 896, 899-902 (D.C.1995). Here, I am concerned that the agency, without sufficient consideration of factual and potentially legal differences, may have too readily applied a judicial decision that was, itself, simply deferring to an agency interpretation. I would therefore remand for further agency explication of its position, including any additional fact-finding that may be deemed relevant.