Shajira v. General Motors, 2010 ACO #105
The plaintiff in this claim proved a work related disability secondary to an injury that occurred in 2004. Subsequent to the injury, the plaintiff was released to work with restrictions by more than one treating physician and released to work without restrictions by the defense examiner. The defendant offered two extremely light inspection-type jobs to the plaintiff, both within his most conservative restrictions. The plaintiff “attempted” each job for less than a day. At trial, the magistrate determined that the plaintiff was disingenuous regarding his attempted return to work within the provided restrictions and therefore unreasonably refused reasonable employment.

Key Point: In order for the period of unreasonable refusal of work to end, the plaintiff must do more than claim not to be able to perform the work, i.e. there must be a good faith effort at a return and/or a change in restriction level.