I.




In 1975, when he was still in high school, Smith was categorized as "educable retarded," with a full scale I.Q. of 64. The record, however, reveals that Smith giggled and flirted with the examiner during the tests, and that Smith seemed to think that taking tests was a game. Accordingly, the examiner believed that " he results of the tests are probably a minimal estimate of the boy's abilities, but at the same time reflect how he functions in the classroom." The testing indicated that Smith read at a third-grade level, and that he recognized only a few simple words.




Smith, who was 35 years old at the time of the hearing before the single commissioner, began working for DMH in 1977. Smith initially was a "trades worker" for DMH, which involved manual labor, primarily heavy construction work.




Smith injured his back at work in May and July of 1989. From the date of these injuries through early 1992, Smith


Smith was treated by Dr. Bell in the summer of 1989. In July, Dr. Bell concluded that Smith was physically able to return to work. In August 1989, Smith was examined by Dr. Bethea, who released him for work, finding that he suffered no impairment of his spine and that he could return to full duty. Both Dr. Bethea and Dr. Bell believed that Smith's subjective complaints were out of line with the objective findings.




In 1990, the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department (VRD) performed a functional vocational evaluation of Smith. In the evaluation, VRD recommended that, because of his back injuries, Smith should avoid, inter alia, excessive climbing, stooping, bending, carrying, and lifting. On a scale of one to six, VRD rated Smith's general education development levels as very low, giving him a score of two in reasoning and math, and a score of one in language. VRD reported that Smith had "limited reasoning, academic, and intellectual skills," and that his inability to read "may hinder employability." VRD also noted that Smith had no work experience other than construction and building maintenance. Nonetheless, VRD found Smith's vocational prognosis to be favorable, given his good mechanical and maintenance skills.




In January 1991, Dr. Weston reported that Smith had reached maximum medical improvement and that he suffered a 3% impairment to his spine. Dr. Weston performed a functional capacities evaluation of Smith, and concluded that Smith should have assistance lifting more than 25 pounds, but that he could occasionally lift 25 to 60 pounds. Dr. Weston also found that, in a given work day, Smith was limited in the length of time he could sit, stand or walk continuously, and that Smith could only occasionally bend, squat, climb or reach.




In October 1991, Dr. Oliver found that Smith had reached maximum medical improvement and that he suffered a 5% permanent partial impairment to his spine.


In April 1992, Smith began working four hours a day as a "trades helper." DMH created the trades helper position for Smith as part of an agreement Smith and DMH entered into in settlement of DMH's 1991 application to stop payment of the temporary benefits it had been paying Smith as a result of his 1989 injuries.




On August 25, 1992, while working as a trades helper, Smith injured his back a third time when his leg gave way and he fell into a ditch. After Smith's 1992  injury , Dr. Pakalnis found that Smith had reached maximum medical improvement and sustained a 4% permanent impairment to his spine. Based on the impairment to his spine, she restricted Smith to carrying no more than 28 pounds, pushing no more than 21 pounds, and pulling no more than 15 pounds.




Smith never returned to work a

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