PICCADILLY CAFETERIA AND AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY, APPELLANT,
v.
VIRGINIA POLITE, APPELLEE
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An award of wage-loss benefits requires either medical evidence of inability to work or a good faith job search, neither of which was shown here.
[1] An award of wage-loss benefits requires either medical evidence of an inability to work or a showing of a good faith job search.
[2] A claimant must demonstrate a good faith job search to establish entitlement to wage-loss benefits in the absence of medical evidence of an inability to work.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceClaimant sustained a compensable arm injury and worked two jobs. After reaching maximum medical improvement, she continued dual employment until quitt…
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JOANOS, Judge.
The employer and carrier (E/C) appeal that portion of a workers’ compensation order awarding wage-loss benefits from March 21, 1981 through June 24, 1982. We reverse.
Polite suffered a compensable injury to her arm on November 9, 1979 while working for Piccadilly Cafeteria (Piccadilly). At the same time, she was working a second job at a convenience store. She continued to work for the convenience store while recuperating from her injury. Polite reached maximum medical improvement on February 1,1980 with a five percent permanent physical impairment of her arm and was released to work by her physician on January 8, 1980. She returned to work at Piccadilly and continued her dual-employment until March 21, 1981, when she quit working at Piccadilly due to problems lifting. Polite continued her job at the convenience store until June 22, 1981, when she quit due to problems lifting and began working at a bank.
Based upon Polite’s stipulated average weekly wage, which included her earnings from Piccadilly and the convenience store, the deputy commissioner awarded wage-loss benefits for the period of time after she quit working for Piccadilly and was working only for the convenience store, and for the period of time after she quit working at the convenience store and was working at the bank, until June 24, 1982. There was no medical evidence that Polite was unable to work and no evidence that she attempted a work search to establish wage-loss. Without medical evidence indicating an inability to work, an award of wage-loss benefits can be made only if a claimant shows that she has made a good faith job search. Pan Am Tobacco Corporation v. Brown, 416 So. 2d 1211 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Having shown no adequate job search, the award of wage-loss benefits is reversed.
That part of the order awarding temporary partial disability is supported by substantial competent evidence and is affirmed.
Accordingly the order is AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part.
LARRY G. SMITH and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Tampa Elec. Co. v. Bradshaw, 477 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…employment, therefore a good faith work search cannot be excused. Claimant’s testimony of continued pain and swelling, standing alone, is of course insufficient to establish his entitlement to wage loss benefits. See Piccadilly Cafeteria v. Polite, 433 So. 2d 591, 592 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). The general rule is that absent medical evidence indicating an inability to work, an award of wage loss benefits is proper only if claimant demonstrates that he made a good faith job search. Id. The employer [*629] argues…
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Superior Pontiac and Lynn Underwriting v. Hearn, 458 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)…apable of returning to and performing adequately his prior job with Superior Pontiac. Hearn’s testimony of continued subjective pain, standing alone, is insufficient to establish his entitlement to wage loss benefits. Piccadilly Cafeteria v. Polite, 433 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). It is important to understand what this court is not holding. We do not say that the mere failure of Hearn to continue working for the same employer (Superior Pontiac) subsequent to his injury defeats his wage loss claim. Rathe…
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Anderson v. S & S Diversified, Inc., 477 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…that our application of the voluntary limitation/deemed earnings statute in this case collides with opinions in which the statute was not considered but all wage loss was denied for months when work search was absent. Piccadilly Cafeteria v. Polite, 433 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Pan Am Tobacco Corp. v. Brown, 416 So. 2d 1211 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); University of West Florida v. Nall, 404 So. 2d 381 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Analysis of those cases shows no such manifest conflict. Instead they illustrate the var…
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- PAN AM Tobacco Corp. & the Home Ins. Co. v. Brown, 416 So. 2d 1211 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)