JCC Awards TPD After Light-Duty Resignation, Denies Later Periods

In Angel Bartoszewicz v. Luxe Healthcare at Wellington/TRISTAR Risk Management, Inc., OJCC Case No. 24-017324GJJ, Judge Gregory J. Johnsen granted temporary partial disability benefits in part after a March 11, 2023 workplace fall caused an accepted left knee ligament tear and resolved back strain. The claimant sought TPD across three closed periods after resigning from her admissions coordinator job and later experiencing additional non-industrial health problems.

The JCC rejected the Employer/Carrier’s waiver, estoppel, abandonment, laches, and res judicata defenses to the earliest TPD period. The order found the claimant credible that the employer initially honored restrictions but later required duties outside Dr. Starace’s limits, including preparing rooms across both floors and pushing heavy pallets, making her August 10, 2023 resignation justifiable rather than a voluntary limitation of income.

Benefits were awarded for August 31, 2023 through October 26, 2023 and November 10, 2023 through June 3, 2024, with penalties, interest, attorney’s fees, and costs on the awarded periods. The JCC denied TPD for February 14, 2025 through April 18, 2025 because the wage loss was tied to gallbladder issues, and denied September 19, 2025 through February 28, 2026 based on non-surgical MMI, insufficient knee restrictions, and intervening liver-related disability.

Source: Compensation Order