Kansas Injured Workers Required To Make Good Faith Effort In Finding Jobs

James B. Biggs

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The Kansas Workers Compensation Appeals Board has changed the way injured workers, seeking a work disabilty, will look for jobs. Essentially, the Appeals Board has placed a burden on the injured worker to show that a good faith effort has been made to find employment within their given work restrictions.

In the case of Thomas v. Dollar General Corp., W.C.A.B. 1,008,265 (February 2005), the claimant brought forth an iimpressive number of job applications, but was still found not to have made a good faith effort to obtain post-injury employment.

The Appeals Board was persuaded by the facts that the claimant only contacted one employer per day and did not register with Kansas Job Service. Also, the Appeals Board looked at evidence showing many jobs that the cliaimant applied for were outside of her restrictions. Finally, it was noted that the claimant made mostly "cold calls" on businesses that were not hiring. The Appeals Board ultimately imputed a comparable wage to the claimant.

To read the full decision in this case link to: http://www.dol.ks.gov/wcboard/WP/ and click on Docket # 1,008,265.