Slater v. ADECCO USA, Inc.

Summary

The Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board affirmed the denial of an employee’s request for nurse case management services, attorneys’ fees, costs, and penalties. The Board held that nurse case management is generally an employer-discretionary administrative function, rather than medical treatment that an attending physician may order, except in catastrophic-injury cases. It also upheld the trial court’s finding that the employer did not unreasonably cause the delay in scheduling the medical procedure and remanded the case.

Holdings

1. Nurse case management is an administrative function distinct from medical treatment, and its use is generally within the employer's discretion unless the injury is catastrophic. An employee or treating physician cannot require the employer to provide nurse case management merely by requesting or recommending it.
2. The employee failed to establish that the employer unreasonably delayed providing benefits or was the sole cause of the delay; therefore, the trial court properly denied attorneys’ fees, costs, and a referral for penalties.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an employer must provide nurse case management services when requested by an employee or recommended by an authorized physician in a non-catastrophic workers’ compensation case.
2. Whether the trial court erred in denying attorneys’ fees, costs, and a referral for penalties based on the alleged unreasonable delay in providing the recommended medical procedure.

Disposition

affirmed