Den Hartog Industries v. Tyler Dungan
On October 3, 2025, the Iowa Supreme Court held that if an injured employee returns to work for the same employer at the same or greater earnings, the employee is only entitled to the functional impairment rating if he or she voluntarily quits. This decision reversed the decisions of the Commissioner, District Court, and Court of Appeals, which had held an employee’s voluntary quit could still result in an industrial disability award even if the employee was making more money with the same employer before quitting.
The facts of the case were straightforward. In July 2019, Tyler Dungan injured his back while working at Den Hartog. He was assigned an impairment rating of 8% to the whole person. At the time of the injury, Dungan was making $15.16 per hour. After the injury, Dungan continued to work for Den Hartog and received a pay increase to $15.50 per hour. Due to personal reasons, Dungan moved away and accepted a different job with better pay. At the time of hearing, Dungan was working as a welder for a different company earning $17.48 per hour.
The issue before the Court was whether Dungan’s voluntary quit triggered his entitlement to industrial disability benefits under Iowa Code section 85.34(2)(v). This statute was amended in 2017 to provide for different permanent partial disability awards depending on the worker’s employment status. If the employee was terminated by the employer or was making less money after the injury, the employee was eligible for an industrial disability award based on their loss of earning capacity. If, however, the employee continued to work for the same company at the same or greater earnings, the employee was only eligible for the functional impairment rating. (Functional rating awards are typically less than industrial disability awards.)
The Commissioner, District Court, and Court of Appeals believed that section 85.34(2)(v) was ambiguous because it did not say what should happen if the employee voluntarily quits. They concluded that because Dungan was no longer working for the employer at the same or greater earnings, an industrial disability analysis should apply, even though he quit for personal reasons. This resulted in an award of 15% industrial disability instead of 8% disability.
The Supreme Court reversed. They held that section 85.34(2)(v) is not ambiguous, and because Dungan returned to work for the same employer after his injury at the same or greater earnings, only the functional rating applied. Furthermore, the “bifurcated litigation process” and potential for review-reopening was not triggered by his voluntary quit. The fact that the job Dungan was doing at the time of hearing paid more than his pre-injury job was not relevant to the Court’s analysis.
This is an important decision that will affect the amount of permanent partial disability benefits injured workers receive for unscheduled injuries. As always, please feel free to contact any of our attorneys with questions regarding this or any other workers’ compensation matters.
