Illinois Carpenter's termination for cause blocks TTD benefits
An Illinois employee is not entitled to collect TTD benefits after he voluntarily removes himself from the workforce for reasons unrelated to his injury. An employee's termination for cause constitutes such a voluntary removal.
The worker, a union carpenter, injured his head and neck while working. He eventually returned to light-duty work. The employer accommodated the worker's restrictions, but subsequently terminated him for defacing company property. Specifically, the worker had written religious inscriptions with permanent marker on the walls and shelves in a storage room. The arbitrator found the claimant not entitled to TTD benefits after his termination. However, the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and circuit court disagreed. The Illinois appellate court reversed the decision of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and the circuit court, holding that the worker was not entitled to collect TTD benefits after he voluntarily removed himself from the workforce for reasons unrealted to his injury.
The overriding purpose of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act is to compensate an employee for for lost earnings resulting from a work-related disability. Allowing an employee to collect TTD benefits from his employer after he was removed from the workforce as a result of volitional conduct unrelated to his injury would not advance the goal of compensating an employee for a work-related injury. Rather, it would provide a windfall by continuing to compensate the employee despite the fact that the cause of the lost earnings after the employee's departure is unrelated to the injury.
In this case, the court noted that the worker presented evidence that his condition had not stabilized at the time he was discharged. However, he had been released to light duty work and had been able to perform such work for the defendant. Further, the claimant admitted he did not have permission from the employer to write on the walls and shelves in the storage room and that the writings were not related to his job duties. The carpenter tacitly conceded that he was removed from the workforace as a result of volitional acts unrelated to his injury. But for his conduct in defacing the employer's property, the claimant would have continued receiving TTD benefits until his condition had stabilized. The court
concluded that the worker's volitional acts resulting in termination for cause rendered him no longer entitled to TTD benefits.
