Under the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Act, employees can file unreasonable refusal to rehire claims against employers when the employer, without reasonable cause, refuses to rehire an employee who is injured in the course of employment when suitable employment is available within the employee’s physical and mental limitations. In its recent opinion in Bruce Belland Trucking, Inc., v. LIRC, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals discussed the ongoing nature of an employer’s obligation to rehire an injured worker and provided instruction to administrative agencies confronted with analyzing multiple alleged instances of unreasonable refusal to rehire.
Background
Bruce Belland Trucking, Inc. is a company that harvests, hauls, and sells wood. On February 26, 2018, one of Belland’s employees injured his knee in the course of employment. The injured worker underwent surgery to repair the injury and was released to return to work without restrictions on April 18, 2018. Prior to his injury, the injured worker drove a loader truck for Belland. Belland experienced a sharp decline in business while the injured worker was unable to work due to his injuries. Because of this decline, Belland sold two of its three trucks in April 2018. When the injured worker called Belland on April 22, 2018, to discuss returning to work, Belland informed the injured worker that the truck he drove had been sold and that he no longer had a job with Belland.
On May 14, 2018, the injured worker then filed a claim against Belland with the Wisconsin Workforce Development (DWD) Worker’s Compensation Division, alleging that Belland unreasonably refused to rehire him following his workplace injury. Shortly thereafter, a change in circumstances allowed Belland to resume its business operations. Belland hired a new employee to drive its remaining truck on May 24, 2018.
After an evidentiary hearing on the unreasonable refusal to rehire claim, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) found that Belland did not unreasonably refuse to rehire the injured worker. The injured worker appealed the ALJ’s decision to the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC), an independent administrative agency that reviews employment law decisions of ALJs. LIRC reversed the ALJ’s decision, finding that Belland unreasonably refused to rehire the injured worker on May 24, 2018. In its decision, LIRC noted that: “[a]t some point, presumably, enough time passes that an employer would not have to try to locate a former worker and offer him or her a job.” However, LIRC found that Belland did not have reasonable cause for refusing to contact the injured worker about available employment one month after his discharge. Belland appealed to the Wisconsin Circuit Court for Vilas County, which affirmed LIRC. Finally, Belland appealed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals’ Decision
On appeal, the court of appeals reviewed LIRC’s factual findings and legal conclusions. The court of appeals found that Belland met its burden to demonstrate reasonable cause regarding its decision to not rehire the injured worker on April 22, 2018. Specifically, on April 22, 2018, Belland did not have suitable work for the injured worker due to economic factors causing a sharp decline in Belland’s business. However, by May 24, 2018, Belland’s economic factors had improved enough to hire a new employee to perform the same work that the injured worker had performed before his injury. As such, the court of appeals concluded that Belland had unreasonably refused to rehire the injured worker on May 24, 2018.
The court of appeals also rejected Belland’s argument that an employer can only be liable for unreasonably refusing to rehire an injured worker on one date. In discussing how to analyze an employer’s ongoing duty to rehire an injured worker, the court of appeals instructed that: “If an employee files a claim under § 102.35 (3), based on an employer’s initial refusal to rehire, and the employer subsequently refuses to rehire the employee a second time, [LIRC] will need to determine whether each refusal was unreasonable.” Bruce Belland Trucking, Inc. v. Lab. & Indus. Rev. Comm’n, no. 2024AP918, 2025 WL 3455368 (Wis. Ct. App. Dec. 2, 2025) (unpublished).
Bottom Line
Discharging an injured worker for reasonable cause may not be the end to an employer’s ongoing duty to rehire injured workers under the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Act. Employers should continue to consider this ongoing duty as economic circumstances change.