On December 13, 2024, the North Carolina Supreme Court filed its long-awaited decision in Sturdivant v. NC Dept of Public Safety, providing what should be the final word on the standard to be used in cases involving claims for Extended Compensation beyond the 500 week cap provided by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-29. The decision is a vindication of the arguments advanced by the defense since the start of the litigation in these matters – that the term “total loss of wage-earning capacity” is different from the analysis of temporary total disability.
In Friday’s decision, the Supreme Court says the Legislature’s 2023 “clarification” that the term “total loss of wage-earning capacity” means the complete elimination of the capacity to earn any wages was really unnecessary, since the plain meaning of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-29 was clear when enacted in 2011: “In sum, when the Industrial Commission interpreted the phrase ‘total loss of wage-earning capacity,’ it did so correctly. The Commission properly concluded that the phrase means an employee’s ‘total loss of the ability to earn wages in any employment.’” As a result, the Supreme Court rejected the Court of Appeals’ interpretation of the phrase “total loss of wage-earning capacity” and affirmed the denial of extended compensation to Plaintiff.
With this decision, claims for Extended Compensation beyond the 500th week should be reserved for the extraordinary situation in which the injured worker’s capacity to earn wages is completely eliminated. The ability to earn any wages whatsoever, in any capacity, should be a bar to Extended Compensation.