Goodwill Job Held to Be Reasonable Employment, Not Vocational Rehabilitation Magistrate Donna Grit (assigned to the Grand Rapids hearing site) recently issued a decision, Adams v Spartan Stores, wherein she held that a job at Goodwill Industries was ""reasonable employment"" (light duty work), not vocational rehabilitation. Spartan Stores initally accomodated the employee's restrictions and brought him back to work in light duty (""reasonable employment"") for approximately eight months. After that, Spartan no longer had light duty work available for the employee. Because the employee's restrictions were permanent, the union contract prohibited him from staying in the light duty job. The employee was unable to find work elsewhere. Spartan assigned the employee to work at Goodwill Industries. Magistrate Grit observed that, although one of the things that Goodwill Industries does is provide vocational rehabilitation services, in this case it did not. In this case, Goodwill, for a fee (paid by the employer) placed the injured employee in a job that fit the employee's restrictions. Magistrate Grit held that the job at Goodwill was ""reasonable employment"", not vocational rehabilitation. APPLICATION: Magistrate Grit's decision provides employers who are unable to provide light duty work to their injured workers with the option to arrange for light duty work through Goodwill or a similar agency. The employee has a legal obligation to accept a ""bona fide offer of reasonable employment"". Because such a job is not vocational rehabilitation, the employee's non-cooperation with the job or refusal to perform it need not be litigated in the cumbersome vocational rehabilitation hearing process. Rather, the employer may merely discontinue paying wage loss benefits (unless the employer is under a prior order to pay) and file a notice of dispute. Please note, however, that Magistrate Grit's decision is not precedential and it may be subject to review on appeal. Before taking any action on this new case, we recommend that you confer with qualifed workers' compensation defense counsel. 2/18/05