STATE EX REL. WYO. WKRS'COMP. v. Medina

770 P.2d 1104
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 23, 1989
Docket88-308
StatusPublished

This text of 770 P.2d 1104 (STATE EX REL. WYO. WKRS'COMP. v. Medina) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE EX REL. WYO. WKRS'COMP. v. Medina, 770 P.2d 1104 (Wyo. 1989).

Opinion

770 P.2d 1104 (1989)

STATE of Wyoming ex rel., WYOMING WORKERS' COMPENSATION DIVISION, Petitioner (Objector-Defendant),
v.
Shirley B. MEDINA, Respondent (Employee-Claimant).

No. 88-308.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

March 23, 1989.

*1105 Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Josephine T. Porter, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.

George Santini of Graves, Santini & Villemez, P.C., Cheyenne, for respondent.

Before THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ., and BROWN, J., Retired.

URBIGKIT, Justice.

Wyoming Workers' Compensation coverage for a motel maid who injured her back in moving a false headboard bed for the daily clean-up and linen change is addressed by this appeal.

Shirley Medina (Medina) was employed by Motel 6 where she sustained lower back injuries as described in her testimony:

Q. How big were the beds that you had to move?
A. Uh, the beds were double wide; they — they're double beds is what they are.
Q. Could you describe to me physically what was required to move those beds.
A. Okay. Uh, the beds are against the wall. They have * * * headboards that are attached to the wall to make them look like if the bed has a headboard with the bed together. Okay. What, uh, I have to do is I have to pull the bed away from the wall to get the linen off and to put clean linen and make the bed and push the bed back where it belongs.
Q. Physically, how far would you have to move that?
A. Um, geez, I'd say a couple of feet.
Q. Do you have any idea how much it would weigh?
A. No, I — it's more than, well, like the day that it happened — I'm not used to having heavy things being, you know, pulling heavy things and, uh, it's a lot more heavier than I can, I can safely (inaudible). I, uh, I'd say about 50 pounds to me because they don't have any rollers on the legs. The, uh, — all it is is it's flat on the, on the carpet.
Q. Do you move both the mattress and the box spring at the same time then?
A. Yes.
Q. You can't tell us how much it weighed but you can tell us it was hard to move.
A. Yes. Because there's no rollers on the, on the legs.
Q. Let's talk about that morning of May 4th. How were you hurt?
A. Well, I, uh, had gotten my things that I usually do for, with the start of the day: my cart, my bags and everything. To start with my first rental and, uh, I pulled the first bed out and nothing happened.
Q. It's not going to pull.
A. The second one, right the minute I pulled it, I had a big back pain — it's a — in my leg, the whole leg gave out and the back also. Uh, I had a heck of a time trying to, uh, proceed working. I told my supervisor and, uh, she told me that, uh, I had to stay and work for the rest of the day.

Following institution of a claim for work related injuries by Medina, objection was taken by the Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division (Workers' Compensation), contending that her occupation was not *1106 enumerated extrahazardous and the employer had not elected coverage under a voluntary coverage opportunity. An administrative hearing was held by a hearing officer of the Office of Independent Hearing Officers as a contest between Workers' Compensation and Medina. Coverage was found and the claim approved as a decision from which this appeal is pursued by Workers' Compensation. The administrative decision was first appealed to the district court by a petition for review by Workers' Compensation and certified to this court without district court decision by W.R.A.P. 12.09 pursuant to the request of Medina.

The single issue presented is whether the work activities performed by Medina come within the coverage provisions of Wyoming statutes and constitutional provisions.[1]

Following hearing, the hearing officer concluded:

3. One of the statutorily enumerated extrahazardous occupations at the time of the injury to the Employee/Claimant was "building service." § 27-14-103(a)(xxxvi) W.S. 1977 (1987 cum.supp.). As defined by statute, "building service" includes "janitors, elevator operators, and maintenance workers employed in and about... . motels." § 27-14-103(f)(i), W.S. 1977 (1987 cum. supp.).
4. The terms "janitor" and "maintenance worker" are not specifically defined by statute. Reference to standard reference texts including the American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd College Edition, and Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary define the term "janitor" as "one who tends to the maintenance or cleaning of a building" and "one that keeps the premises of an apartment, office building, or other building clean or free of refuse, tends to the heating system and makes minor repairs."
5. "Maids" are not statutorily defined and reference to standard reference texts indicate that such term is commonly defined as a "virgin", a "lady-in-waiting", or a "female servant". The common definitions do not accurately reflect Employee/Claimant's actual work.
6. The Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act is to be liberally construed in light of it's beneficent purpose. Although this rule of liberal construction does not allow the extending of benefits to injuries which do not reasonably fall within the language employed by the legislature, a reasonable construction of the term "building service" and it's statutory definition leads to the conclusion that Employee/Claimant's duties fairly fall within this statutorily enumerated extrahazardous occupation of "building service."

Workers' Compensation now attacks this legal conclusion. A strict construction of *1107 the enumerated categories is requested. The appeal presents no issue of services performed, doubt of job requirements or denial of work-related injury. A decision is consequently presented for statutory interpretation as a matter of law.[2] The Wyoming statutory job title differentiation system provides problems in increasing complexity of application. A motel maid is neither stated to be included nor excluded. The hearing officer found coverage from moving beds to janitorial responsibilities. To analyze further, it would appear that identical services performed at a dude ranch would be covered, since dude ranching is included without exception. Maid services are likewise included for hospital personnel by the lack of any exclusion. Laundry workers doing apparently similar tasks would also be covered. Female bartenders who wash glasses and mix drinks are covered, as are kitchen employees and waiters. State institution employees who would perform similar or identical services to those of Medina would also be covered. These employees including "matrons" who provide daily cleaning services in state office buildings, with worker's compensation protection with any on the job injury, appear in job responsibility and activity to be identical to the maids providing clean-up services in motels, except that moving and making beds is not required for the state employee.

Wyoming has a long history of statutory construction to benefit the worker and favor coverage. Lerch v. State ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Div., 714 P.2d 754 (Wyo. 1986); Conn v. Ed Wederski Const. Co., 668 P.2d 649 (Wyo. 1983); In re Gimlin,

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Bluebook (online)
770 P.2d 1104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-wyo-wkrscomp-v-medina-wyo-1989.