AB 128 and the Limits on Nevada Retraining Programs

Nevada ties the length of a vocational rehabilitation program to the severity of the permanent partial disability. The structure carried through NRS 616C.555 and the AB 128 amendments is the reason a plan cannot simply be as long as the retraining takes.

The tiers in practice

Programs are commonly framed in nine, twelve and twenty-four month bands, scaled upward with the degree of permanent partial disability. The practical effect on plan development is that the counselor has to work backward from the cap, not forward from the ideal.

A two-year associate degree is not available to a claimant whose disability rating supports a nine-month program, however well-suited that degree would be. Certificate programs, employer-sponsored training and on-the-job training under NRS 616C.570 do the work instead.

Why plans get rejected

Almost always because the plan proposes training that cannot finish inside the cap, or because the wage the training leads to does not close the gap the statute cares about.

• The program does not complete within the applicable time limit.
• The target occupation pays well below the pre-injury average monthly wage.
• The plan does not address the physician's restrictions in the target occupation.
• There is no evidence the training leads to jobs that exist in this labor market.

On-the-job training is underused

NRS 616C.570 provides for on-the-job training, and on the right file it outperforms classroom retraining on every axis: it is shorter, it produces a real employer relationship, and the claimant is being paid while it happens. It is worth asking about before approving a classroom plan on a claimant with a live work history.

The priority order matters

NRS 616C.530 sets an order of preference for returning an injured worker to employment, beginning with the same job with the same employer and moving outward from there. Retraining sits well down that list. A plan that jumps to retraining without addressing the earlier options has skipped a step that will be noticed.

General information about Nevada workers' compensation practice. Not legal advice. Consult the current statutes and your counsel for any specific claim.