JCC Awards TPD After Eye Injury and Good-Faith Job Search

In Ferguson v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice/Division of Risk Management, OJCC Case No. 26-001535WRH, the claimant sought temporary partial disability benefits after a compensable March 5, 2024 left-eye injury sustained while working as a juvenile detention services officer. The employer/carrier defended on the ground that suitable alternate duty in master control had been offered and refused.

Judge William R. Holley found that the claimant remained under restrictions that kept him from returning to regular duties involving contact with youth, physical restraint, and possible confrontations. The JCC also found, however, that the September 12, 2025 alternate-duty offer in master control was suitable, that no physician had restricted the claimant from that work, and that the refusal was not justified through October 10, 2025.

The order denied TPD from September 19, 2025 through May 8, 2026, but granted TPD from May 9, 2026 forward. By then, the claimant had documented more than three months of unsuccessful applications across multiple fields within his restrictions, which the JCC found reestablished the causal connection between the compensable injury and his ongoing wage loss. Penalties, interest, taxable costs, and claimant-paid attorney fees were awarded only as tied to the benefits granted.

Source: Compensation Order