Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals Says No to Double Dipping with the Same Employer
Oftentimes, benefits received for workers ‘compensation injuries overlap with other types of benefits a claimant may be entitled to. There are limitations to receiving duplicate benefits and situations where the employer and insurer are entitled to an offset or credit against the payment of additional benefits. The Court of Special Appeals recently analyzed this issue and clarified a new limit on overlapping benefits for injured workers.
In the case of Patrick Spevack v. Montgomery County, Maryland, No. No. 893, September Term, 2020, Mr. Spevack asked the Court to allow him the full value of his service-connected retirement disability benefits in addition to the full value of his permanent partial disability benefits awarded by the Workers’ Compensation Commission. Mr. Spevack has been receiving service-connected retirement disability benefits for a back injury related to his work as a firefighter from 1979-2010 with Montgomery County, Maryland. In 2017, he pursued an occupational hearing loss claim in the workers’ compensation system stemming from the same firefighting work with Montgomery County, Maryland. He was awarded a finding of 21% hearing loss in his left ear. The Workers’ Compensation Commission determined that the workers’ compensation hearing loss benefits were completely offset under Labor and Employment §9-610(a) because they were “similar benefits” to the total retirement benefits already being received from his employer.
The pivotal question became, could a claimant receive disability retirement benefits and permanent partial disability benefits at the same time from two different conditions or injuries? The Court of Special Appeals decided that if both categories of benefits were with the same employer, the employer was entitled to an offset. In this case, Mr. Spevak was already fully disabled from work and receiving 70% of his highest salary under his service-connected total disability, to award him additional benefits of disability for the same period of employment would lead to an excess amount of compensation received.
This clarification provides a new way that employers and insurers can seek to mitigate overall exposure on claims. If a claimant is pursuing workers’ compensation benefits and also receiving disability retirement benefits, even if the conditions are unrelated it should be reviewed for the possibility of claiming an offset on benefits.
Meredith Pendergrass