Dubray v. SAIF Corp.

A final order that upholds the termination of the claimant’s eligibility for vocational training must be based on substantial reason, thus showing when the claimant received the warning and that the warning was written.

Claimant sought review of a final order from the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) that upheld his insurer’s (SAIF) termination of his eligibility for vocational training. Claimant was at risk of losing his eligibility for the training due to failing to select an occupation for assistance. A warning letter was sent allowing him 10 days to select an occupation, though the record does not contain the date it was actually delivered. SAIF asserted that eligibility had lapsed by the time claimant’s attorney notified the vocational rehabilitation counselor of the claimant’s response. DCBS affirmed SAIF’s eligibility decision without laying out precisely why the facts in the record required as much. The Court of Appeals observed that the final order upholding the termination of claimant’s eligibility for vocational training must be based on substantial reason showing when the claimant received the warning and that the warning was written. Reversed and remanded for reconsideration.