Did Severe Foot Injury Render 62-year-old Employee Permanently Disabled?

Courts and hearing officers may consider a variety of factors in determining whether an employee is permanently disabled because of a workplace injury. A case involving a farm and home goods store in Shelbyville, Ky. highlights some of those factors.

Rural King might be “for all your farming, home, and outdoor needs,” as its website says, but it’s not the place you need to be working if you’re in constant pain. But to be fair, no place is, right? In a sense, that's the question the court asked and answered in the case of a former Rural King employee who severely injured her foot at work.

At the time of the injury, in March 2021, the claimant was 62 and had a high school education. She returned to work in July 2022. Then he left a year later, explaining that she couldn’t complete her duties without daily pain, even with accommodations. Other employees, she said, were doing most of her work.

At the initial workers’ compensation hearing in February 2024, she said her foot was in pain every day, to varying degrees. Some days she could not leave her house. Elevating her foot would sometimes help.

An ALJ awarded PTD benefits. The ALJ reasoned that the claimant could not perform any work on a "regular and sustained" basis. The ALJ pointed out that while she had in the past performed work while seated, and could potentially do so again, such work would also require some movement and physical activity. The ALJ believed former Rural King employee could not perform these additional activities. 

Rural King had a doctor evaluate the claimant, who recommended extensive restrictions, including no prolonged periods of standing, no climbing of stairs, and no kneeling, squatting, or crouching.

The claimant eventually obtained a medical assistant certification but never pursued a job in the field.

The Workers' Compensation Board affirmed the ALJ’s award of PTD, and the company appealed.

Kentucky law defines permanent total disability, in part, as the condition of an employee who has a complete and permanent inability to perform any type of work as a result of an injury. The law defines “work” as "providing services to another in return for remuneration on a regular and sustained basis in a competitive economy.”

Deciding if a person is permanently and totally disabled requires an individualized determination of what the worker is and is not able to do after recovering from injury. 

Courts consider factors such as the worker's post-injury physical, emotional, intellectual, and vocational status and how those factors interact. 

They also consider whether the worker would be able to work consistently under normal employment conditions.

Was the claimant entitled to PTD benefits?

A. Yes. She was continually in pain that was so severe that she could sometimes not leave the house.

B. No. She was not 100 percent homebound and thus could conceivably work somewhere.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Rural King Supply, Inc. v. Sallie, No. 2024-CA-1227-WC (Ky. Ct. App. 12/17/25), which held that the claimant was permanently and totally disabled.

The court found substantial support for the ALJ’s decision. A worker is not required to be homebound, the court observed, to be considered totally occupationally disabled.

The court noted that at the time of the final hearing before the ALJ, the claimant was 62 and had no college education. While she later became certified as a medical assistant, she never participated in that work. 

Further, the evidence indicated she was in constant pain. The claimant said she thought she could answer phones in an office. However, there was also evidence that she was sometimes in so much pain that she could not leave her house. 

‘Based on [the claimant’s] age, education, pain levels, and the restrictions set forth by [the doctor], it was not unreasonable for the ALJ to conclude that [the claimant] could not consistently work in a competitive economy,” the court wrote.

The court affirmed the ALJ’s finding that she was permanently disabled.

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