A police officer [Claimant] suffered and injury to his lower back while working as a police officer in 2012 and never returned to work. Claimant subsequently accepted a performance of duty disability retirement 2015 and then raised the issue of entitlement to awards for lost wages after retiring. Ultimately the Workers' Compensation Board found that Claimant's retirement was causally related and that he had not voluntarily withdrawn from the labor market. The Board further found that Officer remained temporarily totally disabled and was entitled to lost wage awards for the period between March 13, 2015 and July 12, 2017, and remanded for a determination on the issue of permanency. The employer appealed the Board's determination.
The Appellate Division, citing Romanko v New York Univ., 154 AD3d 1031, affirmed the Board's decision, explained "Generally, a claimant who voluntarily withdraws from the labor market by retiring is not entitled to workers' compensation benefits unless the claimant's disability caused or contributed to the retirement." Further, said the court, "Whether a retirement or withdrawal from the labor market is voluntary is a factual determination to be made by the Board, and its decision will be upheld when supported by substantial evidence."
As to the nature of Officer's retirement, the opinion states that "A retirement is involuntary when the claimant's disability caused or contributed to the retirement." Here the Board credited Officer's testimony that he had accepted retirement because his "work-related back injury left him unable to work." Further, the Workers' Compensation carrier's medical consultant opined that Officer "had a temporary total disability and was 'incapable of returning to the workforce in any capacity' and that he anticipated that the condition would be permanent."
Affirming the Board's decision, the Appellate Division said that there was "substantial evidence supporting the Board's conclusion that [Officer's] disability caused or contributed to his retirement and,thus,that it was involuntary.
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