BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, BROWARD COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, APPELLANTS,
v.
WESLEY A. WILLIAMS AND FLORIDA INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION, APPELLEES
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The Broward County Sheriff's Office appealed a workers' compensation order awarding permanent total disability benefits to a deputy sheriff injured in three workplace accidents. The court reversed, finding the deputy was not totally disabled because the employer offered suitable light-duty bailiff work that the deputy was medically capable of performing but refused to attempt.
A claimant is not entitled to permanent total disability benefits when the employer offers suitable work the claimant is medically capable of performing. The claimant's subjective belief that he cannot perform the work, without competent substantial medical evidence to support it, cannot substitute for a good faith attempt to actually do the work.
[1] An employer's offer of reemployment in a position that the claimant can perform, even if it requires a physical examination, may preclude an award of permanent total disa…
[2] A claimant's subjective belief that they cannot perform offered work, without a good faith attempt to do so, is insufficient to demonstrate an inability to perform the wo…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The claimant is clearly not patently totally disabled, and there was no competent substantial medical evidence that claimant could not perform the duties of a civil bailiff.”
Establishes the legal standard that permanent total disability requires both the absence of patent total disability and competent substantial medical evidence of inability to work
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDeputy Sheriff Williams suffered serious neck and back injuries from accidents on January 27, 1977, August 30, 1979, and May 14, 1980. He had a 30% an…
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THOMPSON, Judge.
The employer brings this appeal from a compensation order awarding, inter alia, permanent total disability benefits. We reverse.
While acting in the course of his employment as a deputy sheriff, the claimant sustained serious neck and back injuries as a result of accidents occurring on January 27, 1977, August 30, 1979, and May 14, 1980. At hearings conducted on August 11, 1981, and December 14, 1981, claimant adduced competent substantial evidence concerning his disability, including evidence that he has a 30% anatomic permanent impairment of the body as a whole. However, during the August 11 hearing, the employer asserted that it was ready and willing to reemploy claimant in the civil division of the sheriff’s office or as a bailiff, if claimant could pass a physical examination for those positions. Upon learning of the employer’s tentative offer to reemploy claimant, the deputy continued the hearing in order to allow claimant to take the pre-employment physical examination and to attempt working as a bailiff. The physician who subsequently conducted the pre-employment physical examination, and who had been apprised of the duties of a bailiff, found claimant “eminently qualified” to handle such light duty work.
When the hearing reconvened on December 14, the employer adduced evidence that it had twice instructed claimant to report for duty as a civil court bailiff, but that claimant had failed to do so. The claimant acknowledged that he had made no effort to perform the bailiff’s job. Although claimant testified at the initial hearing that he was familiar with the duties of civil deputies and of bailiffs in the criminal courts, and that he would be unable to handle such work due to the possibility of becoming involved in physical altercations, we are unable to find any competent substantial evidence in the record that claimant would be unable to handle the duties of a civil court bailiff.
In his order, the deputy ruled that the bailiff’s job amounted to sheltered employment, and that the employer had thus failed to demonstrate that work was available which claimant could perform. This ruling was error. The claimant is clearly not patently totally disabled, and there was no competent substantial medical evidence that claimant could not perform the duties of a civil bailiff. The claimant’s own belief that he would be unable to handle the work of a bailiff cannot substitute for a good faith attempt to actually do the work. See Newport Industries v. Mathis, 418 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Walter Glades Condominium v. Morris, 393 So. 2d 664 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981).
REVERSED.
MILLS and JOANOS, JJ., concur.
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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Liggon, 668 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)…indicates to the contrary. In addition, claimant made no effort to do the work offered; he merely expressed apprehension about doing it. As such, there is no adequate basis for the PTD finding.”); see also Broward County Sheriffs Office v. Williams, 430 So. 2d 968, 969 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). REVERSED. BARFIELD, J., concurs. ZEHMER, C.J., concurs and dissents with written opinion. . Dr. Marshall's IME report is not in the record. . In awarding TPD, the JCC indicated that “[ale-cording to a post-hearing lett…
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Shaw v. Publix Supermarkets, 609 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…he then discontinued working because she said it was too difficult and painful. These facts distinguish the case sub judice from U.S. Foundry & Manuf. Co. v. Serpa, 564 So. 2d 559, 561 (Fla. 1st DCA1990) and Broward County Sheriffs Off. v. Williams, 430 So. 2d 968 (Fla. 1st DCA1983). E/C contend the light-duty working conditions were arranged to assist Claimant’s recovery, but not because any medical evidence necessitated special requirements. Employer testified the labeling job typically is performed by its…
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U.S. Foundry & Mfg. Co. & Gallagher Bassett Ins. Serv. v. Serpa, 564 So. 2d 559 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…ainful employment.” These cases do not apply to an analysis of a PTD finding. The issue before the JCC in the instant case was not claimant’s entitlement to rehabilitation benefits but whether he was PTD. Broward County Sheriffs Office v. Williams, 430 So. 2d 968 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) is similar to the instant case and guides our decision here. In that case the claimant was a deputy sheriff who suffered neck and back injuries resulting in a 30 percent permanent impairment to the body as a whole. At hearing on…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Walter Glades Condo. v. Petunia Morris, 393 So. 2d 664 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- Newport Indus. & State Farm Ins. Co. v. Mathis, 418 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)