State ex rel. Ohio State Univ. v. Pratt

**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.