Trant v. Lucent Technologies

OPINION

Justice GOLDBERG, for the Court.

In this dispute between an employer and former employee, the Court is confronted with a single issue: Must an employee be totally incapacitated for more than fifty-two consecutive weeks to qualify for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) provided by G.L.1956 § 28 — 33—17(f)(1), as amended by P.L. 2000, ch. 491, § 4? 1 Although the petitioner-plaintiff, John Trant (Trant), was totally incapacitated for more than fifty-two weeks as of May 10, 2002, 2 the period of incapacity was not consecutive, having been interrupted by a term of partial incapacity. The…