Cargill Feed Division/Cargill Malt v. Labor & Industry Review Commission

2010 WI App 115, 789 N.W.2d 326, 329 Wis. 2d 206, 2010 Wisc. App. LEXIS 605
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 29, 2010
DocketNo. 2009AP1877
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2010 WI App 115 (Cargill Feed Division/Cargill Malt v. Labor & Industry Review Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cargill Feed Division/Cargill Malt v. Labor & Industry Review Commission, 2010 WI App 115, 789 N.W.2d 326, 329 Wis. 2d 206, 2010 Wisc. App. LEXIS 605 (Wis. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

HIGGINBOTHAM, J.

¶ 1. This case involves a worker's compensation claim, and the Labor and Industry Review Commission's determination that the injured worker, Charles Renz, a former employee of Cargill Feed Division/Cargill Malt, is permanently and totally disabled under the so-called "odd-lot" doctrine. "The odd-lot doctrine is a judge-made adjunct to the law of worker's compensation." Beecher v. LIRC, 2004 WI 88, ¶ 2, 273 Wis. 2d 136, 682 N.W.2d 29. Under the odd-lot doctrine, injured workers may be classified permanently and totally disabled even if they retain a small, residual capacity to earn income; if they are "fit [213]*213only for the 'odd lot' job that appears occasionally and for a short time." Id., ¶¶ 2, 31. The doctrine operates as a rule of evidence:

[W]here a claimant makes a prima facie case that he [or she] has been injured in an industrial accident and, because of his [or her] injury, age, education and capacity, he [or she] is unable to secure any continuing and gainful employment, the burden of showing that the claimant is in fact employable and that jobs do exist for the injured claimant shifts to the employer.

Balczewski v. DILHR, 76 Wis. 2d 487, 495, 251 N.W.2d 794 (1977).

¶ 2. Cargill and its workers compensation carrier AIG Casualty Company ("Cargill") challenge the Commission's finding that Cargill failed to rebut Renz's prima facie odd-lot case. Specifically, Cargill argues that the Commission erred by concluding that Cargill failed to rebut Renz's prima facie odd-lot case of permanent and total disability because (1) Cargill did not inform specific prospective employers of Renz's age and disability limitations, and other pertinent employability information, and because, (2) contrary to the Commission's preference, Cargill did not refer Renz to employers with specific job openings that were actually available to Renz.1

¶ 3. Applying de novo review to the Commission's interpretation of the judge-made odd-lot doctrine, we [214]*214conclude that the Commission erred by applying the wrong legal standard in determining whether Cargill had rebutted Renz's prima facie odd-lot case. Specifically, we conclude that the Commission expanded the evidentiary burden on employers seeking to rebut a claimant's prima facie odd-lot case beyond that established in Beecher and Balczewski by: (1) requiring the employer to produce evidence it disclosed to prospective employers a claimant's age, disability, and other facts about the claimant; and by (2) establishing a preference for evidence that the employer referred the claimant to prospective employers with specific job openings actually available. We therefore reverse the circuit court's decision affirming the Commission's decision. We set aside the Commission's decision, and remand for the Commission to determine whether Cargill has rebutted Renz's prima facie case based on the evidence of record and in accordance with the standards set forth in Beecher and Balczewski, and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 4. The following facts are taken from the findings of the Commission and the administrative law judge, and from the record. Renz injured his lower back in November 2002, and May 2005, while working as a laborer at Cargill. Renz underwent surgery following his second injury, and, after a period of months, was cleared to return to work. However, in late 2005, Renz was terminated at approximately the same time Cargill [215]*215reduced its workforce.2 At the time, Renz was sixty-one years old and had worked as a union laborer with Cargill for thirty-six years.

¶ 5. Renz filed an application for permanent total disability benefits in June 2007. Following a hearing, an administrative law judge (ALJ) issued a decision finding Renz to be permanently and totally disabled. The ALJ considered two sets of work restrictions based on evaluations of Renz's physical capacities, one by Renz's treating physician, Dr. Paul Anderson, the other by a physician hired by Cargill, Dr. William Monacci. Dr. Anderson issued the following restrictions: no more than two hours of standing, walking, sitting or driving; lifting no more than ten pounds (sedentary work); only occasional reaching above the shoulders; no bending, squatting, or climbing; and a work day of between four and six hours. Dr. Monacci restricted Renz to: occasional lifting of no more than twenty pounds to waist level; intermittent bending or stooping; and work that would permit him to change position hourly.

¶ 6. The ALJ considered the opinions of the parties' vocational experts regarding Renz's loss of earning capacity. The ALJ described the opinion of Renz's expert, who determined that Renz was permanently and totally disabled:

(1) The applicant's expert concluded, "it is possible that a job could be identified that would [meet the Anderson restrictions], but the number of jobs in the labor market would be very limited. When such part-time openings would occur, it is likely that younger [216]*216candidates would be hired and [the applicant] would be passed over due to his age and his various physical limitations. Therefore,... the services the applicant has to offer employers are so limited in quality, dependability, and quantity that a reasonably stable labor market.. . does not exist." The expert found [Renz] was permanently totally disabled.
The expert further concluded, "when [the applicant] searches for light-level work [within the Monacci restrictions] he could consider only select job openings [and] he could neither work at jobs with prolonged sitting nor jobs with prolonged weight-bearing. Only certain kinds of light-level jobs would be appropriate for him..." The expert found that would constitute only odd-lot employment, also making him permanently totally disabled.

¶ 7. The ALJ next summarized the opinion of Cargill's expert, Barbara Lemke:

(2) The respondents' expert initially admitted no knowledge of the reason for the applicant's termination, applied a displaced-worker analysis, and identified the material question as: "[What] could [the applicant] have expected to earn as an uninjured worker in the general labor market[?]"[3] Given this and his longevity at the respondent, she asserted his wage there was greatly inflated when compared to that of others in the general labor market for comparable work. A loss of earning capacity resulted (30 to 65 percent based upon [217]*217both sets of restrictions), but less than that had the proper traditional worker's compensation analysis been applied.
The expert then testified and provided an analysis of the applicant's loss of earning capacity without consideration of the displaced-worker theory. She found purported, available jobs within a relevant labor market but with greater losses (45 to 85 percent) based upon both the Anderson and Monacci restrictions; but, none of the positions appeared to offer him the select work required by them.

The ALJ then noted that Lemke did not inform the prospective employers of Renz's age and disability when conducting the market survey:

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Bluebook (online)
2010 WI App 115, 789 N.W.2d 326, 329 Wis. 2d 206, 2010 Wisc. App. LEXIS 605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cargill-feed-divisioncargill-malt-v-labor-industry-review-commission-wisctapp-2010.