Skip to main content

Panado v. Board of Trustees Employees' Retirement System State of Hawaii .

Haw.July 11, 2014No. SCWC-13-0000022Cited 28 times
Facing something similar at work?Check your rights — free, private, no sign-up

Case Details

Judge(s)
Recktenwald, Nakayama, McKenna, Pollack, Castagnetti
Status — whether other courts must follow this ruling
Published
Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Claim Types

Workers’ Compensation

Outcome

The Hawaii Supreme Court reversed the lower courts' dismissal of Panado's service-connected disability retirement application on the basis that she failed to show injury at a 'definite time and place,' finding this language does not preclude recovery when injury clearly occurred during a work shift. The case was remanded for the circuit court to address whether her permanent incapacity was the natural and proximate result of the work incident.

What This Ruling Means

**What Happened** Panado, a City & County of Honolulu IT department employee, applied for service-connected disability retirement benefits through Hawaii's state retirement system. Lower courts rejected her application because she couldn't prove her injury happened at a "definite time and place" during work. The retirement system argued this requirement meant she had to pinpoint exactly when and where her injury occurred. **What the Court Decided** The Hawaii Supreme Court disagreed with the lower courts and reversed their decision. The court ruled that requiring workers to identify a "definite time and place" for their injury doesn't automatically disqualify someone from receiving benefits if the injury clearly happened during their work shift. The case was sent back to the lower court to determine whether Panado's permanent disability was actually caused by her work incident. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling is significant for employees seeking disability retirement benefits. Workers no longer have to prove the exact moment or location their injury occurred, as long as they can show it happened while working. This makes it easier for employees with gradual or hard-to-pinpoint work-related injuries to qualify for the retirement benefits they've earned through their service.

This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.

Similar Rulings

Young
NCDec 2000

<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>

Remanded
McRae
NCJun 2004

<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

Plaintiff Win
Island Creek Coal Company v. Dennis E. Compton Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor
4th CircuitMay 2000
Remanded
Murray
UTAHJun 2013
Defendant Win
State ex rel. Baker v. Indus. Comm.
OhioAug 2000

Workers' compensation—Claimant who leaves former position of employment for a new position does not forfeit temporary total disability compensation eligibility.

Plaintiff Win

Browse Related

Facing something similar at work?

Court rulings like this one are useful, but every situation is different. Take 2 minutes to see which laws may protect you — it's free, private, and no account is required to start.

This ruling information is sourced from public court records via CourtListener.com. Case outcomes, claim types, and summaries are extracted using AI analysis and may be incomplete or inaccurate. It is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

See something wrong, or named in this ruling and want it corrected or redacted? Request a correction.