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Thompson v. Claw Island Foods5/8/1998
of the Act." Id. at 648
In a more recent decision, Pulver v. Dundee Cement Co., 515 N.W.2d 728 (Mich. 1994), the court held that the test for determining "good and reasonable cause" may require consideration of the following factors:
(1) the timing of the offer, (2) if the employee has moved, the reasons for moving, (3) the diligence of the employee in trying to return to work, (4) whether the employee has actually returned to work with some other employer and, (5) whether the effort, risk, sacrifice or expense is such that a reasonable person would not accept the offer.
Id. at 735 (footnote omitted). The court noted further that " n attempt to avoid a bona fide offer of reasonable employment by moving would never constitute good and reasonable cause." Id. at 735 n.12.
Although the factors articulated by the Pulver court are not intended to be exhaustive or conclusive, they represent a sound general framework for decision making when the employee has refused an offer of reasonable employment. Those factors, however, are merely examples of the facts to be considered by the Board. "Not every personal consideration will constitute good and reasonable cause entitling an employee to continued benefits after a refusal of an offer of reasonable employment. It is left to the sound discretion of the factfinder to carefully examine the facts and circumstances of each case to determine what is good and reasonable cause in any given situation." Id. at 735. III. The Board's Decision
The Board made the following findings in determining that Claw Island would be allowed to cease paying benefits to Thompson.
While Employee was free to choose where he wanted to live, this choice does not negate Employer's responsibility to try to return Employee to the work force. Neither should Employee's choice to relocate render Employer's offer of suitable employment 'unsuitable[,]' simply because Employee has chosen to move too far away to commute to the job.
Based on those and other findings, the Board concluded that the employer made a bona fide offer of reasonable employment and that the employee refused to accept the offer without good and reasonable cause. These conclusions indicate an erroneous understanding that the employee's residence is necessarily determined with reference to the time of the injury for purposes of determining whether the offer of reinstatement was reasonable. Because we have today rejected that rigid interpretation of section 214(1), we conclude that the Board erred in construing the language of section 214. Moreover, the Board failed to undertake a full analysis of the employee's reasons for refusing the offer of reinstatement. We therefore vacate the decision and remand the matter for further consideration consistent with the two-part analysis set out here. The Board may, in its sole discretion, accept additional evidence into the record.
The entry is:
The decision of the Workers' Compensation Board vacated. Remanded to the Workers' Compensation Board for further proceedings consistent with this decision.
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