Granite School District must pay disability benefits to teacher it fired

She won temporary disability benefits on a first claim, and the district was ordered to cover the related medical bills. It disputed liability and refused to pay some of them. Once the bills went unpaid, the hospital sent them to collection agencies, which the court said began hounding her and became “a considerable source of stress.” 

When she filed a second claim, this one for permanent total disability, the district contested five of the six legal elements. It said she could still work, pointing to her master’s degree, her volunteering, and an online sales role that brought in $100 to $150 a month – about $25 to $37.50 a week. The Commission said that did not count as gainful employment. A medical panel found that all of her restrictions traced back to the two work accidents, and that other stresses in her life were only passing. 

The district twice tried to reopen the record with new material, including a 2021 car accident the court set aside as irrelevant because it happened after her disability was already permanent. Both requests were denied. The district also tried to recover part of a separate settlement she reached with debt collectors, a step known as subrogation. The court said no, finding that money paid her for the collectors’ conduct, not for her workplace injuries. 

The Utah Supreme Court declined to disturb the award, holding that substantial evidence supported the Labor Commission on each challenged element. For HR teams, the case turned on a familiar decision: whether to accommodate a returning worker’s medical restrictions. The district refused, and the dispute ran from 2015 to 2026.