## Facts

- Leroy Bishop, Jr. worked as a laborer for the Town of Barre and injured his back on October 3, 1973.
- He returned to work intermittently but stopped working entirely in October 1977.
- He received temporary total disability benefits from December 15, 1973 to April 8, 1974, and from October 3, 1977 to January 22, 1979.
- The employer and carrier discontinued temporary benefits on January 22, 1979 on the ground that Bishop had reached the end of the healing process.
- Bishop sought permanent disability and vocational rehabilitation benefits.
- Uncontradicted medical testimony indicated Bishop’s condition would not improve and rated him at 35–40% permanent spinal impairment and 20% whole-person impairment.
- Bishop presented evidence that, given his age, education, and training, he could not return to work.
- He proposed a vocational rehabilitation plan requesting $2,695 to start a small livestock venture at home, with an estimated annual return of about $200.
- The Commissioner awarded 66 weeks of permanent partial disability based only on a 20% whole-person impairment, denied vocational rehabilitation, and deducted $145.56 from the award as an overpayment offset for temporary benefits.
- Bishop appealed to the Washington Superior Court, which certified questions to the Vermont Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether permanent partial disability benefits may be computed solely from a medical “whole person” impairment rating without considering wage-loss and vocational factors (including age, education, training, and ability to work).
2. Whether the denial of vocational rehabilitation benefits was consistent with the governing workers’ compensation statute.
3. Whether the Commissioner could deduct $145.56 from the award to recoup an overpayment of temporary disability benefits.

## Decision

- The court reversed the permanent partial disability award to the extent it was based solely on the 20% whole-person medical impairment rating and remanded for recomputation using a standard that considers wage loss and vocational factors.
- The court held that the vocational rehabilitation denial required reconsideration consistent with the statute’s rehabilitative aims and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court affirmed the Commissioner’s ability to offset the award to correct and recoup overpayments of temporary disability benefits, leaving the $145.56 deduction in place (subject to accurate calculation on remand).
- Disposition: affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

## Legal Principles

- Workers’ compensation statutes providing permanent disability benefits must be construed to serve wage-loss protection, not merely to compensate anatomical impairment.
- Permanent disability determinations may require consideration of earning capacity and vocational factors; a physician’s impairment percentage may inform the analysis but cannot be the exclusive measure when evidence indicates greater loss of earning ability.
- Vocational rehabilitation provisions are remedial and must be applied in a manner consistent with returning an injured worker to productive activity to the extent feasible.
- Administrative officials may correct benefits errors by recouping overpayments through offsets against later awards, consistent with statutory authority.

## Conclusion

The court required permanent disability benefits to reflect real-world earning impairment by considering wage-loss and vocational evidence, ordered reconsideration of vocational rehabilitation, and permitted recoupment of temporary-benefit overpayments through an offset.


Bishop v. Town of Barre, 140 Vt. 564, 442 A.2d 50 (Vt. 1982)