A former warehouse technician is entitled to supplemental earning benefits since she is unable to find employment that compensates her similarity to the job she held when she was injured at work.

In Bell v. SGS Petroleum Service Corp., the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit in Baton Rouge on Thursday affirmed a workers compensation judge’s ruling that the employer’s continued denial of indemnity to the injured worker was “arbitrary and capricious.”

Donna Bell worked for 27 years for SGS Petroleum and its predecessor filling 50-pound bags with plastic pellets. In August 2015, Ms. Bell slipped and fell on packaging pellets in the course and scope of her employment and ultimately fractured both wrists. She received surgery and physical therapy, but her wrists did not return to pre-accident condition, and in July 2016 she was terminated because there was no modified duty positions available and she could not perform her prior job. SGS did not offer any vocational rehabilitation and although she made numerous attempts to obtain employment elsewhere, she has not received any interviews, according to court documents.

Ms. Bell received temporary total disability benefits through November 2016, when a physician determined that she had achieved maximum medical improvement.

Ms. Bell appealed to the Louisiana Office of Workers Compensation, and a workers comp judge held that she was incapable of earning 90% of her pre-injury wage and therefore entitled to supplemental earnings benefits. The judge also found that her employer’s continued denial of indemnity benefits was “arbitrary and capricious,” and ordered SGS to pay nearly $60,000 in indemnity to Ms. Bell, along with continuing weekly benefits of about $500, $2,000 in penalties and $10,000 in attorney fees and costs. SGS appealed, arguing that Ms. Bell failed to provide proof that she has physical restrictions.

The appellate court affirmed the workers comp judge’s ruling, holding that Ms. Bell presented ample evidence that she was unable to perform her pre-injury job and has been unable to secure other employment. The court also affirmed the award of penalties and attorneys fees, finding that SGS “cherry-picked the physical therapist’s deposition to attempt to continue to deny indemnity benefits to Ms. Bell.”