Michael Shahnasarian, Ph.D.
Earning Capacity Opinion
New
Evidence
Labor Market Research
New
Evidence
Data from Examination
Subject-Specific Factors
Medical
Issues
Psychological
Factors
Education,
Training, and
Specialty
Skills
Work History,
Acquired
Experience
and Skills
Ancillary
Factors
Extant
Evidence
Extant
Evidence
Formulation
of Opinion
Formulation
of Opinion
Processes Involved in Conducting An Analysis of
a Claim of Loss of Earning Capacity
From Assessment of Earning Capacity, 3rd Edition (Shahnasarian, 2010)
Inhibitors
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Phase of Career
Development
Subject Specific Issues
Ability to Apply Prior
Skills
Future Career
Development Prospects
Prognosis
Need and Capacity for
Retraining
Preexisting Vocational
handicaps
Acquired Vocational
Handicaps
Vocational Adjustment
Issues
Drivers
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Stability of Career
Development
Work Propensity
Demonstrated Earnings
History
Career Motivation
Cognition
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2.
3.
4.
When evaluating loss of earning capacity claims,
there are premorbid and postincident factors
that could be facilitative (drivers) as well as
detrimental (inhibitors) to a claimant’s
vocational rehabilitation. These factors merit
analysis.
ECAF-2 factors that are inhibitors include high
scores on 9 items (see handout).
ECAF-2 factors that are drivers include high
scores on 5 items (see handout).
Drivers and inhibitors can be quantitatively and
qualitatively evaluated by qualified vocational
rehabilitation evaluators.
5.
6.
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10.
Drivers and inhibitors have an interactive effect on
vocational rehabilitation potential, assuming an
individual is motivated for this.
Drivers can help mitigate earning capacity damages,
assuming an individual is motivated for this.
The ECAF-2 quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate
drivers.
The ECAF-2 quantitatively and qualitatively
evaluates inhibitors.
Driver and inhibitor indices can be used to assess
claims of loss of earning capacity, with
corresponding degrees of loss.
At times, drivers can take on inhibitor qualities, and
inhibitors can take on driver qualities.
Prognosis
Good
Fair
Guarded
Poor
Accessibility to
Premorbid
Occupations and
Career Development
Opportunities
Likelihood of
Generating
Compensation at a
Level Commensurate
with Premorbid Level
Viability of
Continuing Career
Development
No Loss/Mild
No Loss/Mild
No Loss/Mild
Mild/Moderate
Moderate/Severe
Moderate/Severe
Moderate/Severe
Moderate/Severe
Moderate/Severe
Extremely
Severe/Catastrophic
Extremely
Severe/Catastrophic
Extremely
Severe/Catastrophic
Effect on Earning Capacity
No Loss
Catastrophic
Moderate
Mild
0%
20%
Extremely
Severe
Severe
50%
80%
100%
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Lawyers do not have confidence that vocational
evaluators’ findings are either consistent or
objective.
No differences between plaintiff and defense
attorneys in opinions about the need for a
standardized approach to conducting vocational
evaluations.
The study provides strong support for the
development of more universal, comprehensive,
and perhaps quantifiable methods of assessing
vocational capacity.
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ECAF users rated the instrument positively and found the
instrument helpful. Specifically, they rated the ECAF most
positively when asked about its ability to offer a standardized
approach to assessing earning capacity.
Generally, variances among ECAF users’ assessments of loss
of earning capacity were less than variances among nonusers.
Generally, variances among trained ECAF users’ assessments
of loss of earning capacity were less than the variances
among untrained users, indicating that use of the ECAF
reduced within group variances in estimates of loss of
earning capacity.
ECAF can be particularly useful in cases in which the
assessment of latent or future loss of earning capacity is
intuitively evident but difficult to quantify.
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In 75% of the cases, vocational experts agreed or strongly agreed
that the ECAF was helpful.
Cognition and career motivation were most often judged by
vocational experts to be an individual’s best prognosticators for
success in pursuing vocational rehabilitation and minimizing
earning capacity damages.
Among ECAF factors, the highest correlation was between
demonstrated earnings history and work propensity.
Results from the factor analysis identified three significant
clusters among the 14 ECAF factors: global factors affecting
career development, disability-related factors, and ability to
apply prior skills.
Eleven of the 14 ECAF factors demonstrated loadings on one of
these three clusters. This finding lends credence to the factors
being material and comprehensive correlates of earning capacity.
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Reported changes in subjects’ physical conditions since their vocational
rehabilitation evaluations approximated changes in their reported
mental health conditions.
Two factors alone - general intelligence and positive work attitudes were
highly predictive of postlitigation vocational behavior.
The model most predictive of a return to work included the MAB-II, Full
Scale IQ, and the MMPI-2 Work Interference scale, resulting in a 83.3%
correct classification rate.
Significant correlations emerged between return to work and both high
levels of education and measures of intelligence.
A negative relationship emerged between return to work and the MMPI-2
L-scale.
Less than one-half of the subjects were employed from 5 to 7 years
after their vocational rehabilitation evaluations. In the overwhelming
majority of cases, though, those employed were satisfied or very
satisfied with their employment – albeit at lower levels of compensation.
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For three case studies, test-retest correlations measuring
subjects’ assessments of percent loss of earning capacity were
significant at the .01 level. The overall test-retest reliability
coefficient, collapsed across all cases, was .98.
All 14 ECAF factors demonstrated significant test-retest
reliability across the three case studies. Test-retest correlation
coefficients associated with ECAF drivers and inhibitors were,
likewise, highly significant.
In all three cases, subjects found the ECAF even more helpful
with their second use of it.
The variance that emerged between same ECAF factor correlation
coefficients across cases is consistent with Shahnasarian’s
assertions about a case’s uniqueness and, correspondingly, the
need to evaluate a pending case on the bases of its facts and
intracies.
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Generally, vocational experts and insurance company employees viewed
the loss of earning capacity claims similarly. When significant
differences arose, the insurance company employees were more
conservative in their damages appraisals; vocational experts assigned a
higher percentage of loss of earning capacity in both cases where
significant differences on this variable were present, and they
determined the presence of more inhibitors in the third instance of
significant between-group differences.
Only two of the eight coefficients were significant; accordingly, the
investigators concluded that the findings provided insuficient support to
proceed with a determination of ECAF cut-off scores to assign
impairment to earning capacity ratings.
Significant between-group differences occurred in cases involving mild
and moderate/severe loss of earning capacity, rather than the extreme
no loss and catastrophic loss case study scenarios.
Interestingly, significant findings between ECAF Inhibitor scores and loss
of earning capacity ratings emerged in both “gray area” cases.
Differentiation between driver and inhibitor factors provides a useful
framework to describe vocational capacities/limitations.
Earning Capacity Assessment
Form, 2nd Ed (Fall 2010)
Assessment of Earning
Capacity, 3rd Ed (Late 2010)