Severe pain can qualify worker for disability, U.S. court rules
A worker who can stay on the job only by enduring severe pain can be considered disabled, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in an Oakland longshoreman’s case that could apply to other disability claims.
Anthony Jordan, who was then 42, suffered multiple back injuries in September 2014 when the tractor he drove to move cargo containers for his employer, SSA Terminals, was lifted and dropped by a crane. He underwent spinal fusion surgery in March 2018 and sought workers’ compensation benefits, saying he had been unable to work.
The company did not dispute benefits for the periods immediately after the accident and after Jordan’s surgery, but said a surveillance video by the company’s insurer in 2016 showed him walking, bending and lifting objects. Jordan, who also had a private landscaping business, said he had been in pain the entire time, and his doctor agreed that the pain was substantial. But
a hearing officer and the federal Benefits Review Board, which reviews longshore cases, said Jordan was required to work as long as he could do so, regardless of pain.
“If Mr. Jordan’s financial needs compel him to work unwillingly, he has plenty of company in the workforce,” the hearing officer said in a decision denying benefits from April 2017 to the time of his surgery 11 months later.
On Friday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said pain, by itself, can be disabling.
“The level of pain must be sufficiently severe, persistent and prolonged to significantly interfere with the claimant’s ability to do his or her past work,” Judge Frederic Block said in the 30 ruling. Block, appointed by President Bill Clinton, is a senior federal judge from New York temporarily assigned to the appeals court. He was joined in the ruling by Judges Ryan Nelson and Daniel Bress, both appointees of President Trump.
The court said an employee’s injury must be workrelated to qualify for benefits, but the level of pain need not be “excruciating” or torturous, standards suggested by other appeals courts. Block also said an employee cannot be required to perform work that would make the injury worse.
The panel said the hearing officer must review Jordan’s case, determine whether his claims of pain were credible and, if so, apply the standard in Friday’s ruling.
Michael Villeggiante, a lawyer for Jordan, said the ruling would benefit West Coast longshore workers and should set a precedent for other workplace disability cases.
“It is a commonsense, legally sound ruling that will help ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers up and down the coast,” said Villeggiante, who noted that his family has been working on the Bay Area waterfront for four generations.
A lawyer for SSA Terminals and its insurer, Homeport Insurance, could not be reached for comment.