
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994                   TAG: 9409270118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

COURT TO RULE ON DISPUTE OVER BENEFITS

The Supreme Court said Monday it will review a ruling that limited the government's ability to appeal to federal courts in disputes over benefits awarded to disabled maritime workers.

The justices, granting a Clinton administration appeal, said they will study the case of a Hampton man whose back injuries forced him to leave his job at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.

Jackie Harcum worked for Newport News as a machine installer from 1963 until 1988. During that time, he had two operations for back injuries. Company officials informed Harcum on May 6, 1988, that they would look for another job for him in the shipyard because he could not perform his tasks.

But three months later, the company told Harcum the shipyard had no work to offer him and that he was being referred to a rehabilitation counselor.

With the counselor's help, Harcum found a physically less-demanding job with the Hampton Sheet Metal Co.

A dispute then arose over whether Harcum had been entitled to ``temporary total disability'' benefits from May 6, 1988, to the time he started at Hampton Sheet Metal.

by CNB