Kentucky: Under Special Statute, Retiring Worker Receiving PPD Indemnity Entitled to Double Benefits

Under Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 342.730(1)(c)(2), where there is a cessation of employment, temporary or permanent, “for any reason, with or without cause,” payment of weekly benefits for PPD during the time of cessation is doubled. In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Kentucky held that the statutory multiplier applied to a claimant's benefits when that claimant returned to work and later retired for reasons not solely related to the work-related injury itself. Here, the employee suffered a severe shoulder injury in a fall at work and endured three separate surgeries. She returned to work for approximately one year, but then decided that the injury had caused her to “re-evaluate things.” With that re-evaluation, she determined that “being a secretary just wasn't doing it for me anymore.” The employer contended the Court should carve out a special exception where, as here, the employee had simply retired for personal reasons. The Court declined, noting the clear wording of the statute.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Active Care Chiropractic, Inc. v. Rudd, 2018 Ky. LEXIS 368 (Sept. 27, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 84.04.

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