Aument v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

720 A.2d 1095, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 883
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 25, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 720 A.2d 1095 (Aument v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aument v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 720 A.2d 1095, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 883 (Pa. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

RODGERS, Senior Judge.

Debra Aument (Claimant) petitions for review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board that reversed a workers’ compensation judge’s (WCJ) grant of benefits to Claimant for a psychic injury. We affirm.

[1096]*1096Claimant worked for Flexsteel Industries, Inc. (Employer) for more than twelve years in various capacities, including a five-year period as a senior sales coordinator. In June of 1994, Claimant was promoted to the position of inside sales administrator. In her new position, Claimant continued to be responsible for her prior duties but also assumed additional ones. In November 1994, Claimant experienced an anxiety attack at work. At the time of that episode, she began to hyperventilate, her vision became blurry, and her legs and face went numb. Following this anxiety attack, Claimant sought treatment with Robert K. Aichele, Jr., D.O. Claimant also sought treatment with Arthur Goldman, Ph.D., beginning in February 1995.1 After February 7, 1995, Claimant did not return to her new position.

On April 6, 1995, Claimant filed a claim petition, alleging that as of February 7,1995, she became disabled, sustaining injuries in the nature of “anxiety/anxiety syndrome and clinical depression” as a result of her work for Employer. She further alleged that over time she was assigned more duties to the point where she could no longer function. Claimant also alleged that although she notified Employer of her situation, she was not provided with assistance in handling her new job responsibilities. In its answer, Employer denied Claimant’s allegations.

Hearings were held before a WCJ, at which time Claimant testified on her own behalf. She also presented the deposition testimony of both Dr. Aichele and Dr. Goldman. Employer presented the testimony of Thom Fecteau, Employer’s general manager, the deposition testimony of Lee Fautsch, Employer’s regional sales manager, and the deposition testimony of Abram M. Hostetter, M.D., who examined Claimant for this litigation.

The WCJ’s seventy-seven findings of fact set forth the testimony of the various witnesses, which is summarized as follows. Claimant testified that on a regular basis she worked more than forty hours per week, that she had more responsibilities in her new position than in her previous position, including expediting the shipping for many of Employer’s international and government accounts, and that she supervised five employees. Claimant testified that she had seventeen areas of responsibility prior to her promotion and that subsequent to the promotion she had four more areas of responsibility all without any assistance provided by Employer. Claimant further testified that, unlike other employees, she regularly took work home in the evenings and on weekends, but was not given additional compensation. Claimant also testified that when comparing her duties with those of her counterpart in the same position in Employer’s Iowa plant, she had many more responsibilities.

Claimant further testified that in the course of a day she fielded at least seventy phone calls, each needing her to do follow-up work. In September and October of 1994, one of Claimant’s subordinates was off work for six weeks, requiring Claimant to take on additional responsibilities. Claimant also performed tasks beyond the scope of her job description, including answering questions concerning work posed by many of the other employees in Employer’s work force. She also acted as an interior decorator, as a furniture sales person and trained new employees. Claimant further testified that although she delegated work, Employer requested her to be selective so as not to overwhelm her subordinates.

Claimant also related incidents involving the employee who had been absent for six weeks. After Claimant’s episode at work in November of 1994, that employee informed others that Claimant had suffered a nervous breakdown. When asked to refrain from discussing the incident, the other employee responded in a volatile manner, calling Claimant names and leaving work for a number of days. Claimant also testified that on another occasion that employee pushed Claimant against a wall, but in response to Claimant’s report Mr. Fautsch laughed and took no further action.

Mr. Fecteau testified that the new position was created for Claimant because Employer needed a knowledgeable in-house administra[1097]*1097tor who could handle the sales department in the absence of the sales manager. Prior to the creation of the new position, other employees in the sales department performed the duties undertaken by Claimant. Mr. Feeteau further testified that Claimant continued to perform her original duties in addition to the new ones. He also acknowledged that he was aware of Claimant’s concerns, particularly, the fact that the sales department was understaffed, but due to Employer’s hiring freeze no solution could be readily implemented. The hiring freeze also impacted the workload when a twenty-percent increase in sales occurred as a result of an expanded territory. Although Mr. Feeteau listed the vaxious employees’ work hours, attempting to prove that Claimant’s work schedule was in line with that of other employees, the WCJ did not accept this testimony as credible, finding in fact that Claimant worked more hours than other employees at her place of employment. Mr. Feeteau also recognized that the animosity between Claimant and the employee who was off work for six weeks impacted Claimant’s workload. He also acknowledged that Claimant assumed responsibilities for duties outside her job description.

Claimant’s immediate supervisor, Mr. Fautsch, provided testimony that essentially covered the same information testified to by Mr. Feeteau. He indicated that he was aware that Claimant believed her workload was overwhelming, that she performed her prior duties in addition to her new responsibilities, which included a primary duty to service Employer’s largest and most important account. Mr. Fautsch agreed that the hiring freeze and Employer’s lack of profitability made it impossible to hire additional employees to alleviate Claimant’s workload. According to Mr. Fautsch, Claimant’s performance ratings indicated that from 1991 through 1998 she exceeded expectations and in 1994 she met most/all expectations. He recognized Claimant’s strong relationships with other employees and customers, noting the exception concerning the relationship with one employee, which he described as involving petty arguments. This characterization of Claimant’s relationship with this one employee was not accepted by the WCJ, who found the shoving incident rose to the level of an assault.

With regal’d to the medical testimony, Dr. Goldman diagnosed Claimant as suffering from clinical depression brought about by the stress at work in connection with Claimant’s promotion. Dr. Aichele testified that Claimant’s anxiety and depression stemmed from Claimant being overwhelmed at work as a result of the addition of more and more responsibility. As for Dr. Hostetter’s testimony, the WCJ found that he disagreed with Claimant’s doctors’ diagnosis. Dr. Hostetter did not believe Claimant suffered from depression, anxiety or panic-attack disorders that were in anyway the result of Claimant’s working conditions.

The WCJ found credible the testimony of Claimant and her two physicians. The WCJ found Dr. Hostetter not credible, and accepted the testimony of Mr. Feeteau and Mr. Fautsch only to the extent the WCJ so indicated in her findings of fact.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Meadow Lakes Apartments v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
894 A.2d 214 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
720 A.2d 1095, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 883, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aument-v-workers-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-1998.