Board allows the employer to reimburse the Fund more than it was seeking after a decision granting the termination petition. In return, the employer is given a credit against the claimant's remaining entitlement to partial disability benefits.

The claimant had a compensable work injury and was receiving $330.78 per week compensation for total disability.  On February 12, 2015, the employer filed a termination petition alleging the claimant was no longer totally disabled.  As of that date, the Fund picked up the total disability payments and continued making them until June 30, 2015, when the Board granted the employer's petition and terminated the total disability benefits as of the date of filing.  The Board's decision also put the claimant on partial disability status at the rate of $22.76 per week, which legally can continue for up to 300 weeks. 

Following the Board's decision, the Fund requested the employer to repay $448.70, representing 19.7 weeks of partial disability from the day when the petition was filed until the Board's decision date.  The Fund had actually paid the claimant $6,521.09, since he had been receiving total disability benefits while the petition was pending.  The employer's motion to the Board now sought to repay the Fund the remaining $6,072.39 with the assertion that this would represent the remaining 266.8 weeks owing in partial disability benefits.  The employer contended that, when that amount was added to the 19.7 partial disability benefits, the employer would then have a total credit of 286.5 weeks for partial disability payments made.  In essence, the claimant would not repay any of the money he had received from the Fund, and the Fund would not experience any loss on the claim as the employer would repay everything the Fund had paid, but in return be given a sizeable partial disability credit.

The employer's motion was granted.  The Board ruled that the claimant could keep the money he had already received from the Fund and the employer would pay the remaining $6,072.39, which would make the Fund whole for the compensation benefits it had paid.  In return for paying that full amount, the employer was given a credit of 286.5 weeks for partial disability benefits that would otherwise be owing.  As such, the claimant was only entitled to 13.5 weeks of remaining partial disability benefits.

_{Case Law Alerts, 1st Quarter, January 2016}

_{Case Law Alerts is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2016 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}