Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. v. Testerman

An injured employee is entitled to receive compensation when his “incapacity for work resulting from [an] injury is partial ... during such [period of] incapacity.” Code § 65.2-502. Today the majority has appended an additional prerequisite to the receipt of compensation—the employee must also establish that his loss of wages was not due to economic conditions that similarly impacted able-bodied employees. It then proceeds to announce, out of whole cloth, five factors to consider in applying its “same economic conditions” test.4 In doing so, the majority, in my opinion, ignores both existing…