BRANDI PUNTURI
v.
WAL-MART ASSOCIATES INC NEW HAMPSHIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Insurance Carrier
WALMART CLAIMS SERVICES, INC., Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001731698
Virginia Workers Compensation
Virginia In The Workers' Compensation Commission
June 16, 2021
Date
of Injury: May 18, 2020
Claim
Administrator File No. C0614167
Charles A. Stacy, Esquire For the Claimant.
Peter
G. Irot, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
RAPAPORT Commissioner
The
claimant requests review of the Deputy Commissioner's
February 24, 2021 Opinion denying her request for temporary
total disability benefits during periods of partial
incapacity. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant filed claims[1] alleging she suffered a compensable
injury by accident to her left shoulder on May 18, 2020. The
claimant sought medical benefits and temporary total
disability benefits beginning May 20, 2020.
On
February 19, 2021, the Deputy Commissioner held an
evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, the parties agreed the
claimant sustained a compensable injury by accident arising
out of and in the course of her employment on May 18, 2020,
the claimant's injury was a left labral tear, the
claimant's pre-injury average weekly wage was $501.19
with a weekly compensation rate of $334.13, the
claimant's authorized treating physician was Dr. Bart
Eastwood, and the claimant was entitled to an award of
temporary total disability benefits from September 1, 2020
through October 12, 2020, associated with arthroscopic
surgery performed by Dr. Eastwood.
The
defendants disputed the claimant was entitled to additional
temporary total disability benefits from May 20, 2020 through
August 31, 2020 and beginning October 13, 2020. The
defendants asserted the claimant failed to adequately market
her residual capacity during the disputed periods.
The
Deputy Commissioner found the claimant was partially disabled
during the periods in question, and the claimant was capable
of unrestricted work as of January 6, 2021. He considered the
claimant's assertion that she satisfied her duty to
market during her periods of partial incapacity by obtaining
her medical assistant's degree. Citing Hostetter v.
Pleasant View Home for the Handicapped, VWC File No.
194-46-39 (Oct. 11, 2002), the Deputy Commissioner held the
claimant's pursuit of a medical assistant's degree
was insufficient to satisfy her obligation to market her...
