Name

St. Louis v. Acadia Hospital

Insurance Company

Date Decided

January 12, 2017

Panel Members

Timothy Collier

Elizabeth Elwin

Evelyn Knopf

Categories

Partial Benefits / Refusal of Employment

Tags

Head Work Offer Partial Incapacity

File Size

177 KB

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Summary from the Troubh Heisler Attorneys

St. Louis was a CNA who was struck in the head by a psychiatric patient. She left her job a few years later and was soon hired as a part-time cashier at a grocery store. At about the same time, Acadia offered her a full time position at a higher wage, which St. Louis rejected because she already had a new job which she felt was more suitable and was closer to her home. Dr. Voss performed a ยง312 IME and found that the Acadia offer would be inappropriate, not because the work was beyond her capability, but because it would expose St. Louis to further patient assaults.

Hearing Officer Gary Greene found that St. Louis had "good and reasonable cause" to reject Acadia's offer, because she already had obtained the new job at the store. Acadia appealed, arguing that HO Greene should have considered other factors relevant to St. Louis's decision to decline the Acadia job. The panel agreed, vacated the decision, and remanded it back to the hearing level for further analysis. Because HO Greene has retired, however, Judge David Hirtle will likely decide the case.

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