Ohio Workers' Compensation Attorney Jim Monast Helps Protect Your Permanent Total Disability Benefits
You worked hard your entire life until a job-related injury left you permanently disabled. After a lengthy battle, you were awarded permanent total disability benefits through Ohio workers' compensation. While these benefits provide essential financial support, you may wonder if taking on even minimal work could put them at risk. This concern keeps many PTD recipients from pursuing activities that could improve their quality of life.
At Monast Law Office, Jim Monast and his team understand your worries about maintaining these essential benefits. Continue reading to learn the facts about how employment could impact your Ohio PTD benefits and when you should consult legal counsel about protecting your claim.
What Ohio Law Says About PTD Benefits and Employment
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) awards permanent total disability (PTD) benefits to workers who can no longer perform sustained remunerative employment due to work-related injuries. This means you’re permanently unable to engage in regular paid work activities.
However, the law recognizes that some PTD recipients may still be capable of and interested in minimal work activities. The critical factor is whether the work represents a return to sustained remunerative employment.
Here’s a case we found interesting. A claimant in Hillard, Ohio, injured his back in 1999, and his doctors confirmed he was no longer capable of working, so he was awarded PTD. In 2016, one-time video surveillance captured his activities one day at a county fair operating a scooter business that he owned, including interacting with customers, explaining the function of the machines, and renting them.
Based on this video evidence, a hearing officer ordered the termination of PTD benefits. The claimant challenged the decision through a writ of mandamus, arguing that a single video wasn’t enough to demonstrate that he was no longer entitled to benefits. However, after a prolonged multi-year battle, the court supported the termination by the Ohio Industrial Commission (ICC), stating that continued benefits payment isn’t allowable when there’s evidence of:
- Actual sustained remunerative employment;
- The physical ability to do sustained remunerative employment; or
- Activities so medically inconsistent with the disability that they impeach the medical evidence underlying the award.
Now, there are many other details to this case. But, a key point to remember is that the ICC evaluates several factors when determining if work activities warrant terminating PTD benefits. These include:
- The number of hours worked
- Income earned
- Physical demands of the activities
- Whether the work is ongoing rather than temporary
Occasional volunteer work or helping family members with simple tasks generally won't impact your PTD benefits. However, regular part-time work earning income will trigger a review of your disability status.
When to Ask Us For Workers’ Comp Insight Into PTD Regulations
If you're considering any work activity while receiving PTD benefits, it's crucial to understand how it could affect your claim. This isn’t one of those “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” situations—get all the facts and don’t leave anything to chance. A knock on your door from the BWC fraud squad is an entry to Dante’s eighth level of hell—you don’t want to go there.
Contact us for a free consultation so we can:
- Review the specific work activities you're considering and assess potential risks to your benefits.
- Explain what constitutes substantial gainful employment under Ohio workers' compensation laws.
- Guide you in accurately documenting minimal work activities within the allowable guidelines.
- Help you respond appropriately if the BWC questions your continued eligibility for PTD.
- Represent you in hearings if your benefits are challenged.
- Determine if your case qualifies for statutory PTD, allowing you to earn an income while collecting disability benefits.
For more than thirty years, the team at Monast Law Office has helped people like you understand the workers’ compensation system and obtain—and keep—the benefits you deserve.
