Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council v. Albert

The Worker's Compensation Board is required to use evidence on the record to determine whether a claimant has been released to his post-injury job, such as medical records, claimant's own description of work history, employer's Regular Duty Job analysis, and evidence about claimant's post injury capacity.

Employer seeks judicial review of the Worker's Compensation Board opinion regarding whether claimant was released to regular work at the time his permanent partial disability benefit was determined, and therefore, whether claimant was entitled to work disability as part of that benefit. Employer asserted that the board erred as a matter of law in relying upon the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) Codes, instead of the regular duty job description provided by employer, in order to determine whether claimant was released to his regular work for purposes of evaluating his entitlement to a work disability award and that the board erred in penalizing employer under ORS 656.268(5)(e). The Court determined that the Worker's Compensation Board erred in relying on the DOT codes to determine claimants pre-injury physical capacity, rather than evidence on the record to determine whether claimant has been released to his post-injury job, such as medical records describing the work that claimant was performing when he was injured, claimant's own description of his work history, employer's Regular Duty Job Analysis, and the evidence about claimant's post injury capacity. The board erred in analyzing claimant's entitlement to work disability. Reversed and remanded for reconsideration.