State ex rel. Ohio State Univ. v. Pratt

Ohio Ct. App.September 28, 2021No. 19AP-603Cited 4 times

Case Details

Judge(s): Mentel
Status: Published
Procedural Posture: appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Outcome

The court issued a writ of mandamus ordering the Industrial Commission of Ohio to vacate its award of temporary total disability (TTD) compensation to Lori Pratt after July 5, 2017, finding that Pratt voluntarily abandoned her employment for reasons unrelated to her work injury and therefore was ineligible for TTD benefits.

Excerpt

As claimant quit her former position of employment for reasons unrelated to her workplace injury she was ineligible for temporary total disability compensation after the date of her resignation. The relator's limited objection is sustained as magistrate's decision does not contain a clear and definitive determination as to the date at issue. Respondents' objections overruled relator's limited objection sustained writ granted.

What This Ruling Means

**What happened:** Lori Pratt, a former Ohio State University employee, suffered a workplace injury and was receiving temporary disability benefits from Ohio's workers' compensation system. After her injury, Pratt quit her job at OSU for reasons that had nothing to do with her workplace injury. The university challenged whether she should continue receiving disability payments after she voluntarily left her position. **What the court decided:** The court ruled in favor of Ohio State University. It ordered Ohio's Industrial Commission to stop paying Pratt temporary disability benefits after July 5, 2017 - the date she quit her job. The court found that because Pratt voluntarily left her employment for reasons unrelated to her work injury, she was no longer eligible to receive these disability payments. **Why this matters for workers:** This ruling clarifies an important rule about workers' compensation benefits. If you're injured at work and receiving disability payments, you may lose those benefits if you quit your job for reasons unrelated to your injury. To continue receiving workers' compensation, your inability to work must be directly connected to your workplace injury, not other personal or professional decisions. Workers should carefully consider how leaving their job might affect their ongoing benefits.

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

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