Idaho Law Blog
By Fred J. Lewis
First, your treating physician must adopt the restrictions set out in the functional capacity evaluation (FCE) or there is a good chance the Idaho Industrial Commission will deny your claim. Second, if you do not do a work search, chances are you’ll lose your Idaho Worker’s Compensation case.
In Kim Gray v. Industrial Special Indemnity Fund (ISIF) filed on May 5, 2016, the claimant found out the hard way that you have to have your treating physician adopt the restrictions given by the physical therapist as a result of a functional capacity evaluation and do a work search or you will lose your total and permanent disability case. The claimant in this case was injured in a number of accidents and at the time of the hearing, was unable to work. However, the claimant made one job inquiry as a part of his job search. The claimant completely relied on the opinion of his vocational expert that it would be futile for him to look for a job. This was the death nail to the claimant’s case.
The second mistake that was made in this case was that the treating physician did not adopt the restrictions from the functional capacity evaluation. Therefore, the referee gave the FCE little or no weight and essentially disregarded this testimony.
Don’t be this guy. Listen to your experienced Idaho worker’s compensation lawyer and make your new job looking for a job. Also make sure that your lawyer gets your treating physician to adopt the restrictions from the FCE as your permanent restrictions.