Sweeney v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Whitman's Chocolates)

695 A.2d 877, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 248
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 25, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 695 A.2d 877 (Sweeney v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Whitman's Chocolates)) 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
Sweeney v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Whitman's Chocolates), 695 A.2d 877, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 248 (Pa. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

McGINLEY, Judge.

Patricia Sweeney (Claimant) appeals from an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board) which affirmed a referee’s 1 decision granting the suspension petition of Whitman’s Chocolates, Inc. (Employer). We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Claimant sustained a work-related injury to her right knee on April 25, 1991, while working as a material analyst for Employer. Pursuant to a notice of compensation payable, Claimant received temporary total disability benefits beginning on May 31, 1991. Pursuant to a supplemental agreement dated November 27,1991, Claimant’s benefits were suspended from August 13, 1991, to October 9, 1991, when she returned to work without loss of earnings. Benefits were reinstated on October 10, 1991, due to a recurrence of Claimant’s disability.

In March of 1992, Employer petitioned for a suspension alleging that Claimant had returned to her pre-injury position without a loss of earnings as of December 16, 1991. Employer alleged in the petition that benefits were reinstated for a period from February 11, 1992, to February 18, 1992, at which time, Claimant returned to work. Employer also alleged in the petition that Claimant’s counsel failed to respond to Employer’s request for the execution of a supplemental agreement, necessitating the suspension petition. Claimant answered and admitted that she returned to work on December 16, 1991, until February 10, 1992, that she received benefits from Februaiy 11,1992, to February 17, 1992, and that she returned to work on February 18,1992. Claimant requested verification that she did not have a loss of earnings and that all medical bills were paid.

Employer presented the deposition testimony of Evelyn Walker (Walker), manager of loss prevention and safety, and designated records custodian for Employer. Walker confirmed the periods which Claimant worked since her April 25,1991, work injury, and informed the referee of Claimant’s Salary-

Claimant testified that she returned to her pre-injury position, which was a salaried position and that she always returned without a loss of earnings. Claimant stated she executed a supplemental agreement, dated April 15, 1992, which reflected a suspension of benefits as of December 16,1991, a reinstatement of benefits as of Februaiy 11,1992, and a suspension of benefits as of February 18, 1992. While Claimant did not remember signing the agreement, she agreed it was accurate. Claimant also related that she incurred four medical bills for diagnostic studies after she returned to work on February 18, 1992, and noted that she did not present the bills to Employer until sometime in 1993.

The parties agreed that there were two medical bills outstanding at the time that the suspension petition was filed, but that the bills were paid by Employer in October of 1992. Claimant never petitioned for penalties.

The referee granted Employer’s suspension petition based upon the following pertinent findings of fact:

9. Claimant’s concern as to the medical bills was as to four bills for diagnostic studies which were incurred after she returned to work on Februaiy 18,1992, after Defendant filed the instant Suspension Petition and after Claimant filed her Answer. [880]*880Moreover, Claimant did not present the bills to Defendant until sometime in 1993.
11. The Judge accepts the testimony of Ms. Walker as credible and persuasive and finds that Claimant returned to work on December 16, 1991 without loss of earnings, that Claimant’s disability recurred as of February 11, 1992 and that Claimant always returned to her pre-injury position.
12. The Judge also accepts the testimony of Claimant that she executed a Supplemental Agreement sometime in 1992 which would have resolved this matter, but that Claimant’s counsel failed and refused to allow Defendant to file the Supplemental Agreement with the Bureau.

Referee’s Decision, August 22, 1994, Findings of Fact Nos. 9, 11 and 12, at 3; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 10a.

The Board affirmed the referee’s decision, concluding:

Claimant argues that she is entitled to a reinstatement of benefits once the employer terminated operations in 1993. The burden of proof with regard to that reinstatement was on Claimant to prove that at the time employment ended Claimant continued to suffer effects of the work injury. Pieper v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Ametek-Thermox Instruments Division), 526 Pa. 25, 584 A.2d 301 (1990). There was no testimony in the record that at the time Claimant was laid off her work injury continued. Because of the passage of time that fact cannot be assumed. Pieper.

Board’s Decision, October 23, 1995, at 2; R.R. at 3a.

On appeal Claimant contends: 1) that the referee erred in determining that Employer was entitled to a suspension of benefits; 2) that the referee failed to make necessary findings of fact and conclusions of law; and 3) that the Board exceeded its scope of review by assuming the referee’s role as finder of fact. Our scope of review is limited to determining whether constitutional rights have been violated, whether an error of law has been committed and whether all necessary findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Boehm v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (United Parcel Services), 133 Pa.Cmwlth.455, 576 A.2d 1163 (1990). Although a claimant may continue to suffer fi-orn a work-related injury if there is no loss of earning power, compensation benefits must be suspended. Scobbie v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Greenville Steel Car Company), 118 Pa.Cmwlth. 424, 545 A.2d 465 (1988), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 522 Pa. 607, 562 A.2d 829 (1989).

In the present controversy, it is undisputed that Claimant returned to her pre-injury job without a loss of earnings on December 16, 1991, and again on February 18, 1992. However, the question remains whether Claimant’s compensation benefits should be reinstated because of Employer’s plant closing on May 27,1993. We note that:

A suspension is warranted under the [Act] where a claimant has a residual physical impairment attributable to a work-related injury but is receiving wages equal to or in excess of what the claimant had earned in his pre-injury job. Diffenderfer v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Rabestos Manhatten, Inc.), 651 A.2d 1178 (Pa.Cmwlth.1994), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 540 Pa. 642, 659 A.2d 561 (1995). Although the employer remains liable for the consequences of the work-related injury, there is no longer any ‘disability,’ i.e., loss of earning power, attributable to the work-related injury. Id.
A claimant seeking reinstatement following a suspension of benefits must prove that: (1) through no fault of his or her own, the claimant’s disability, i.e., earning power, is again adversely affected by the work-related injury, and (2) the disability which gave rise to the original claims continues. Pieper v. Ametek-Thermox Instruments, 526 Pa.

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695 A.2d 877, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sweeney-v-workmens-compensation-appeal-board-whitmans-chocolates-pacommwct-1997.