No specific laws identified for this ruling.
Plaintiff's workers' compensation claim was found timely filed within two years of last medical payment regardless of Virginia location. Court upheld Industrial Commission's findings of total disability and rejected employer's offered part-time position as make-work.
1. Workers' Compensation — timeliness of claim — last medical payment — foreign jurisdiction A workers' compensation claim was timely filed because it was within two years of the last medical compensation paid by defendants, even though the payment was to medical providers in Virginia. Nothing in the statutory definition of medical compensation limits the location to North Carolina, nor is there an exceptionPage 423 for the employer's presumption that the claim will be in a foreign jurisdiction. N.C.G.S. § 97-24. 2. Workers' Compensation — timeliness of claim — short-term disability payments — not "other compensation" Short-term disability benefits paid in lieu of workers' compensation were not paid pursuant to the Workers' Compensation Act, and did not qualify as "other compensation" for timeliness purposes under N.C.G.S. § 97-24. 3. Workers' Compensation — appeal — failure to assign error — findings binding Failure to assign error in a workers' compensation case to findings about plaintiff's medical history and incapacity for employment meant that those findings were binding on appeal. The Industrial Commission's conclusion that plaintiff is totally disabled was upheld. 4. Workers' Compensation — offered part-time employment — make-work The evidence in a workers' compensation case supported the finding that a part-time position offered to plaintiff was make-work and did not constitute other employment as defined by N.C.G.S. § 97-2(9). 5. Workers' Compensation — medical care — effectiveness The Industrial Commission did not err in a workers' compe
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<bold>Workers' Compensation — Causation — fibromyalgia — doctor's opinion</bold> <bold>testimony</bold> <block_quote> The Court of Appeals erred in concluding that competent evidence was presented to support the Industrial Commission's findings of fact with regard to the cause of plaintiff-employee's fibromyalgia based solely on the opinion testimony of one doctor.</block_quote>
<bold>1. Workers' Compensation — Seagraves test — injured employee's</bold> <bold>right to continuing benefits — termination for misconduct</bold> <block_quote> Our Supreme Court adopts the <italic>Seagraves</italic>, <cross_reference>123 N.C. App. 228</cross_reference> (2003), test for determining an injured employee's right to continuing workers' compensation benefits after being terminated for misconduct whereby an employer must demonstrate initially that the employee was terminated for misconduct, the same misconduct would have resulted in the termination of a nondisabled employee, and the termination was unrelated to the employee's compensable injury, in order to find that an employee constructively refused suitable work, thus barring workers' compensation benefits for lost earnings unless the employee is then able to show that his inability to find or hold other employment at a wage comparable to that earned prior to the injury is due to the work-related injury.</block_quote> <bold>2. Workers' Compensation — constructive refusal of suitable</bold> <bold>employment — termination for misconduct unrelated to</bold> <bold>workplace injuries</bold> <block_quote> The Industrial Commission erred in a workers' compensation case by concluding that defendant employer met its burden of providing competent evidence that plaintiff employee's failure to perform her UPC labeling duties was not related to her prior compensable injury under workers' compensation, which thereby led to her termination for misconduct and denial of additional workers' compensation benefits based on an alleged failure to accept a suitable position reasonably offered by her employer, because: (1) the evidence relied upon by the Commission's majority indicated that plaintiff was having continuing problems in the wake of, and as a result of, her injuries; (2) there was no competent evidence referenced in the Commission's opinion and award that supported a showing by defendant employer that
Workers' compensation—Claimant who leaves former position of employment for a new position does not forfeit temporary total disability compensation eligibility.
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