State ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division v. White

837 P.2d 1095, 1992 Wyo. LEXIS 138
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 1992
DocketNo. 91-191
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 837 P.2d 1095 (State ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division v. White) 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. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division v. White, 837 P.2d 1095, 1992 Wyo. LEXIS 138 (Wyo. 1992).

Opinion

CARDINE, Justice.

Wesley White, appellee, received a worker’s compensation 51 percent permanent partial disability award as a result of an administrative agency contested case hearing. The State of Wyoming appeals the Order Awarding Permanent Partial Disability Benefits.

The award is modified and, as modified, affirmed.

The issue presented for our determination, as stated by appellant, is:

Did the hearing examiner base his award of permanent partial disability on some evidence, or was it based purely on speculation?

White was employed by TCI Cablevision as a cable installer. He sustained a low back herniated disc injury in a accident in the course of his employment when a gust of wind caught a 28-foot ladder being unloaded. White was 28 years of age at the time of the accident, a high school graduate, and was earning $6.49 per hour with TCI. His prior employment consisted of working as an apprentice electrician, cable installer, dock worker, and in construction work. His highest pay was $14 to $16 per hour as an apprentice electrician. His hourly pay at other work was: $4.00 with Fitch Electric; $6.25 to $7.25 with Union Pacific Railroad; $6.00 to $9.00 with Wayne’s Electric; and $9.50 with Yandree Electric.

The parties agree that White’s physical impairment was 11 percent. The amount of that award was paid by the State without objection. However, the State now claims that half of that award, or 5½ percent, was mistakenly paid and should be recouped as a credit against any award for loss of earning capacity. The State concedes that it “does not take issue with the fact that the Appellee is entitled to an award for the vocational loss,” but states its only objection is that the award is based upon speculation and not upon facts and evidence.

[1097]*1097Wyoming Statute 27-14-405(b)(xvi) provides in pertinent part the source for an award for loss of earning capacity as follows:

One (1) factor to be considered is the ability of the employee to continue to perform work for which he was reasonably suited by experience or training pri- or to the injury * * *.

The award in this case was for disability caused by impairment of earning capacity which is loss of the ability to perform work for which White was reasonably suited by experience or training. Impairment of earning capacity is determined by taking into consideration the following factors:

(a) Physical impairment — the nature and extent of injury.
(b) The worker’s age.
(c) The worker’s education.
(d) Ability to continue pre-injury employment.
(e) Post-injury employment prospects.
(f) Pre-injury earnings.
(g) Post-injury earnings.

No single factor of those listed above is determinative of the extent or existence of loss of earning capacity. They are all evidence to be considered together with all of the other facts and circumstances in determining whether a loss of earning capacity in fact occurred and, if so, the percentage of loss. McCarty v. Bear Creek Uranium Co., 694 P.2d 93 (Wyo.1985).

The State at first objected to White’s claim for a permanent partial disability award for impairment of earning capacity. Then, at the hearing on White’s claim, it conceded an eight percent loss of earning capacity based upon the difference between earnings at the time of injury and evidence that he could be employed in a sedentary electrical job at $6 per hour. We have said that loss of earnings is evidence which may be considered, but such loss does not necessarily establish the loss of earning capacity which may be more or less than the loss of earnings. McCarty.

The struggle over compensation for impairment of earning capacity most often surfaces when the worker is trained and can work in occupations, some of which pay more and some less than the employment engaged in at the time of injury. For example, suppose that a worker can be employed in six different occupations. Because of physical injury he has lost the ability to work in four of those occupations. But he can earn more in the two occupations remaining than he could in any of the four no longer available. Has he suffered a loss of earning capacity? If only his pay when employed in one of the occupations remaining to him is considered, the answer must be no. But if his ability to be employed when the higher pay may not be available is considered, then clearly there is a loss of earning capacity. It is this loss that is compensated pursuant to the provision of W.S. 27-14-405(b)(xvi), “ability of the employee to continue to perform work for which he was reasonably suited by experience or training * *

The nature and extent of disability are factual determinations to be made by the hearing officer from the testimony and evidence adduced. Banda v. State ex rel. Workers’ Comp. Div., 789 P.2d 124 (Wyo.1990). The hearing officer’s findings of fact as stated in the decision letter were:

Employee-Claimant is 30 years old. Employee-Claimant obtained his high school diploma in 1978. His work history prior to the March 28, 1989, compensable back injury included the cable installer position held at TCI Cablevision, where Employee-Claimant’s ending wage rate was $6.49 per hour. Prior to that, Employee-Claimant held employment as an apprentice electrician with various employers, earning hourly wage rates of approximately $4.00 (Fitch Electric), $6.25 to $7.25 (Union Pacific Railroad), $7.50 (Texas Oil Electric), $6.00 to $9.00 (Wayne’s Electric), and $9.50 (Vandree Electric). Employee-Claimant’s employment as an apprentice electrician with these various employers spanned the period 1978 through 1987. At various times during this period, Employee-Claimant also held employment as a casual dock worker at Consolidated Freightways, earning an equivalent wage rate of approximately $7.81 per [1098]*1098hour, a computer operator at First Wyoming Bank Corporation, earning approximately $6.00 per hour, various construction work with his father’s business, and commercial electrical work in the Los Angeles, California, area, earning approximately $14.00 to $16.00 per hour. A majority of Employee-Claimant’s pre-injury work experience was as an apprentice electrician, [footnote omitted]

Judicial review of agency action, is governed by W.S. 16-3-114(c) which provides:

(c) To the extent necessary to make a decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. In making the following determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party and due account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error. The reviewing court shall:
$ He * ⅛: # *
(ii) Hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings and conclusions found to be:
sft * * * * *

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Bluebook (online)
837 P.2d 1095, 1992 Wyo. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-wyoming-workers-compensation-division-v-white-wyo-1992.