Ladd v. Grinnell Corp.

[¶ 1] Chester Ladd petitions from a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Board denying his petition for restoration. The Hearing Officer concluded that the employee’s unwillingness to cross a union picket line could not, as a matter of law, constitute “good and reasonable cause” for a refusal of an offer of post-injury employment pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. § 214(1) (Supp.1998). We disagree, and remand for a determination of the reasonableness of Ladd’s refusal in light of the facts specific to this case.

[¶ 2] Ladd is a thirty-year member of a national Sprinkler Fitters’ Union. Ladd suffered a…