Channellock, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

72 A.3d 731, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 257
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 8, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 72 A.3d 731 (Channellock, Inc. 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
Channellock, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 72 A.3d 731, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 257 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Judge McGINLEY.

Channellock, Inc. (Employer) attacks the order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Board) which reversed the Workers’ Compensation Judge’s (WCJ) grant of Employer’s petition to modify/suspend benefits and the denial of L. Thomas Reynolds’s (Claimant) petition to reinstate/modify. The Board affirmed the WCJ’s grant of Claimant’s penalty petition. The Board denied Claimant’s request for reasonable contest attorney fees and awarded Claimant reasonable litigation costs in the amount of $4,693.59.

I. Background.

On July 31, 2001, Claimant sustained an injury within the course and scope of his employment with Employer. Claimant was inside a small tank cleaning it. He slipped and fell backwards and struck his back against a metal bar. Claimant felt immediate pain in his low back and buttocks. By decision dated May 25, 2005, the WCJ determined that Claimant sustained an annular tear and a herniated [733]*733disk at the L5-S1 level. The WCJ awarded Claimant a period of total disability benefits followed by ongoing partial disability benefits. Claimant underwent surgery for the work-related injury in February 2002. In May 2002, Claimant returned to work in a modified duty position in a different part of Employer’s plant. That portion of the plant subsequently closed. Claimant returned to the portion of the plant where he worked at the time of his injury. By that point Claimant was not required to do any work and sat and read and performed crossword puzzles.

In December 2003, Claimant fell asleep at work and was disciplined in writing. Claimant requested a move to a position where he would be kept mentally alert. Employer transferred him to a position where he cleaned pliers. Claimant believed that the job requirements exceeded his medically imposed restrictions. Claimant continued to perform the job until the end of March 2004. At that point, his physician instructed him to stop working.

Employer petitioned to terminate Claimant’s benefits and alleged that he fully recovered. Claimant petitioned to reinstate benefits and alleged that, as of March 24, 2004, he suffered a recurrence of total disability. The two petitions were consolidated. The WCJ denied the termination and granted the reinstatement petition and concluded that Claimant was entitled to total disability benefits from March 24, 2004, onward. The Board affirmed. Employer petitioned for review with this Court and contended that the Board erred when it affirmed the reinstatement of benefits. This Court affirmed because the WCJ concluded that the no duty position was not within Claimant’s capabilities because Claimant had difficulty staying awake due to his prescribed medication. Employer had previously reprimanded Claimant for falling asleep on the job and informed Claimant that the next time he fell asleep would result in his termination. Channellock, Inc. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Reynolds), 965 A.2d 1239 (Pa.Cmwlth.2008).

II. Current Controversy.

A. Petitions.

In the termination petition, Employer alleged that Claimant fully recovered from his work-related injury based upon the evaluation of Thomas Kramer, M.D. (Dr. Kramer). The petition was amended to include a request for suspension of compensation due to the fact that work was available without loss in earnings to Claimant at regular, light, or even no duty work.

On June 3, 2008, Claimant petitioned for penalties and alleged that when he returned to a no duty job (No Duty Job) on March 31, 2008, his wages were less than his average weekly wage, and he alleged that he had not received a check since the pay period ending March 30, 2008. The penalty petition also alleged that Claimant was entitled to partial disability benefits which Employer unilaterally suspended.

On August 1, 2008, Claimant petitioned to reinstate benefits and requested a reinstatement to total disability status. Claimant alleged1 that he went off work at the No Duty Job and experienced a worsening of his condition which resulted in a decrease in earning power.2

[734]*734 B. Evidence.

Claimant testified that since he underwent surgery in February of 2002, his back never improved enough for him to return to a normal lifestyle and normal activities. Notes of Testimony, June 11, 2008, (N.T.) at 27; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at R0063. He described his symptoms which started in his low back:

I feel it more in the right buttocks cheek, and it goes down the right leg all the way to the feet. I have pins and needles, more in the right feet [sic], but the more intense the pain is, the more I can feel it on the left side, too.

N.T. at 28; R.R. at R0064. The pain affected his ability to focus and he became agitated more quickly than when he was relaxed. N.T. at 33; R.R. at R0069. Claimant was directed by Donald Horn-stein (Hornstein), Employer’s vice president of human resources, to return to work on March 31, 2008, at the No Duty Job. N.T. at 44; R.R. at R0080; Notes of Testimony, September 5, 2008, (N.T. 9/5/08) at 11; R.R. at R0099. He testified that he had fallen asleep doing this “job” before and would be terminated if it happened again. N.T. 9/5/08 at 12; R.R. at R0100. He attributed falling asleep primarily to the medication he took. N.T. 9/5/08 at 12; R.R. at R0100.

Claimant testified that Hornstein sent him to sit on a chair in the cafeteria. N.T. 9/5/08 at 23; R.R. at R0111. Claimant believed that he was put on display and subject to employee gossip. He was then sent to sit on a loveseat in Hornstein’s office. N.T. 9/5/08 at 27; R.R. at R0115. Claimant indicated that the No Duty Job was “emotionally and physically too much for me to continually do every day, and he [Claimant’s doctor] agreed that I would have that problem, but he had wrote [sic] a slip that said — recommended me to be removed from the no duty job.” N.T. 9/5/08 at 30; R.R. at R0118.

Claimant presented the deposition testimony of his treating pain management specialist, Anthony J. Colantonio, M.D. (Dr. Colantonio), a board-certified anesthesiologist with certification for a pain management specialty. Dr. Colantonio first treated Claimant on June 22, 2004. He examined Claimant twenty-seven more times between June 22, 2004, and the date of the deposition, November 10, 2008. Deposition of Anthony J. Colantonio, M.D., November 10, 2008, (Dr. Colantonio Deposition) at 16; R.R. at R0340. In addition to physical problems, Dr. Colantonio believed there was a relationship between Claimant’s physical pain and depression. Dr. Colantonio Deposition at 17; R.R. at R0341. Dr. Colantonio opined that Claimant could not return to his time of injury job because he had difficulty walking and finding a comfortable position. Dr. Colan-tonio testified that Claimant could not perform a job where he was on his feet most of the day on a hard floor. Dr. Colantonio Deposition at 21-22; R.R. at R0345-R0346. He also testified that Claimant told him he was in “misery” when he worked the No Duty Job. Dr. Colantonio Deposition at 23; R.R. at R0347. Dr. Colantonio signed an “off-work slip” for Claimant to stop working the No Duty Job because Claimant was in “mental anguish by having to go in and perform an oxymo-ronic job of a no-duty job.” Dr. Colanto-nio Deposition at 24; R.R.

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Bluebook (online)
72 A.3d 731, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/channellock-inc-v-workers-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-2013.