School Time Is Not Compensable

The Maine Supreme Court has just decided a case holding that a Maine employer is not responsible for the loss of earnings resulting from its employee’s choice to go to school, even when that would improve his future earning opportunities.

In Tucker v. AGM, 2008 ME 167, Tucker injured his back unloading groceries and eventually recovered a full-time light-duty earning capacity. He returned to work at AGM and was paid partial benefits for his ongoing earnings loss by Consent Decree. He then lost his job there but found part-time work elsewhere cutting meat, and AGM again paid him partial benefits accordingly, again by Consent Decree. He lost that job, too, and decided to go to college to become a respiratory therapist. Because of his heavy class schedule, however, he looked for only part-time work and finally found another part-time meat-cutting job.

Tucker filed a Petition for Review asking for 100% partial benefits for the 1-year period between jobs and ongoing partial benefits thereafter. HO Elwin granted his Review and ordered AGM to pay benefits he requested, concluding that Tucker showed a change in circumstances since the last decree, and that his schooling was part of his "good-faith" work-search obligation.

The Court disagreed in part and vacated HO Elwin’s decision. The Court agreed that Tucker had shown a change in circumstances, but they disagreed with her award of 100% partial benefits, holding that he had a full-time light-duty earning capacity but chose to look for only part-time work, so he could not fulfill his work-search requirement as a matter of law, even though he made that choice in order to go to school to increase his future earning capacity. As the employer argued, Tucker chose underemployment– and AGM should not have to subsidize that choice.

This decision should make it less costly for Maine employers to implement vocational rehabilitation for partially disabled employees, as they will not necessarily have to pay total benefits during the employees’ schooling. On the other hand, it may make injured employees less inclined to go to school, if they have to give up earnings and get no WC benefits for doing so.