Breaking Down Types of Voluntary Abandonment Cases

OMA Connections Partner, Calfee, recently wrote about the complex area of “voluntary abandonment” with respect to workers’ compensation benefits: “At the end of last year, the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision in State ex rel. Cordell v. Pallet Cos. … holding that a post-accident positive drug test leading to employment termination did not bar the receipt of temporary total (wage replacement) compensation, even though the claimant had no job to return to as a result of his drug use. …

“… readers now should be aware that the Ohio Industrial Commission took the occasion of the Cordell case to issue an interpretative memorandum on how the “voluntary abandonment” doctrine should be applied in hearings before it …”

In this post, Calfee breaks down the three types of voluntary abandonment cases described in the Industrial Commission memo and concludes: “… every “voluntary abandonment” case must be viewed and decided on its own facts.” 6/27/2017