Sykes v. Weyerhaeuser Company

Claimant seeks review of a Workers’ Compensation Board order holding that he is not entitled to temporary total disability, because he has “effectively retired.” We reverse.

Claimant, a 54-year-old lumber worker, suffered a series of heart attacks and underwent quadruple bypass surgery between 1972 and 1983. In early 1983, he returned to light duty in a lumber mill, first as a “clipper spotter” and then as a “clipper operator.” The latter position was particularly well suited to his physical limitations, because it allowed him to sit down and required only that he activate a button when…