Virginia: Credit for Claimant’s Incarceration Limited to When Employer’s Petition Filed

Upon a claimant’s conviction and sentencing, the employer is entitled to a credit under Va. Code §§ 65.2-510.1(A) and -708(A), but not from an earlier date when the claimant was incarcerated while he awaited trial, held a Virginia appellate court recently.  The court added that under Va. Code §§ 65.2--708(A), the employer was not entitled to any credit until the date it actually filed its petition for termination of benefits.  The employer had contended that the claimant, who was sentenced to 20 years, was given credit by the criminal court for the time he had already served while awaiting trial.  It should have been allowed a similar “credit.”  The appellate court disagreed and noted that in any event, if an employer could have suspended compensation earlier, but paid through the date of the filing of the application, there was no provision for a credit for compensation paid during the period in which payment was not required.

Reported by Thomas A. Robinson, J.D.

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See Vico Constr. Corp. v. Taylor, 2013 Va. App. LEXIS 233 (Aug. 13, 2013) [2013 Va. App. LEXIS 233 (Aug. 13, 2013)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 84.04 [84.04]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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