What impact does COVID-19 have on employees who are released to full work duty with or without permanent restrictions?

What impact does COVID-19 have on those employees who are released to full duty but with no permanent restrictions?        

Based on a case by case basis, a trial judge could go in several different directions depending upon whether the employee had actually returned to work prior to a business closure and depending on the extent of the permanent restrictions. As mentioned above, if the employee had already returned to work, in some instances it might be reasonable to deny workers' compensation benefits because the reason for the loss of job and wages was the Coronavirus and not the injury. We believe under the circumstances of a full duty work release, the courts will look to whether there were any changes in work duties or if an employee was provided with some accommodation. If the employee performed the exact same tasks which they performed prior to their accident with no appreciable accommodations, perhaps no workers' compensation benefits would be owed. If, however, the employee had been released to full duty but the permanent restrictions required some job modification and/or accommodations, the considerations regarding SEB which we discussed above would come into play.

What impact does COVID-19 have on those employees who are released to full duty but with no permanent restrictions?        

Under those circumstances, we believe that no workers' compensation benefits would be owed. The employee would not be able to show any disability or entitlement under the disability categories of the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Act and would, therefore, not be entitled to benefits. Someone who has actually returned to work with no restrictions would clearly not be entitled to benefits. We might even be able to reach that same conclusion when the business has been closed and the employee reaches maximum medical improvement with no residual disability or work restrictions at some point subsequent to the business closure. Again, such an individual's inability to earn wages would not be tied to his work injury but to the virus and the current economic situation.