Oklahoma: Worker with Bilateral Inguinal Hernias Entitled to Separate TTD Award for Each Injury

Construing Oklahoma’s hernia statute [85A O.S. Supp. 2013 § 61], which permits an award of up to six weeks of TTD for each hernia suffered by a claimant, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that where an injured worker had sustained a bilateral inguinal hernia, he was entitled to 12 weeks TTD—one six-week period for “each” hernia, and not merely one six-week period of disability, as determined by the Workers’ Compensation Commission. The Court provided a history of language changes made in the state’s hernia statute and said that 85A O.S. Supp. 2013 § 61 of the Administrative Workers' Compensation Act unambiguously indicated legislative intent to make six (6) weeks of TTD the upper limit for each hernia injury suffered by a claimant, rather than the upper limit for simultaneous hernias resulting from a single injury.

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

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Corbeil v. Emricks Van & Storage, 2017 OK 71, 2017 Okla. LEXIS 74 (Sept. 18, 2017)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 50.07.

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