Technical College System v. McGruder

756 S.E.2d 702, 326 Ga. App. 469
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 21, 2014
DocketA13A2353
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 756 S.E.2d 702 (Technical College System v. McGruder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Technical College System v. McGruder, 756 S.E.2d 702, 326 Ga. App. 469 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

DOYLE, Presiding Judge.

We granted The Technical College System of Georgia1 —Augusta Technical College’s (“ATC”) application for discretionary review of the superior court’s order affirming the decision of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation (the “Board”), which awarded temporary total disability benefits (“TTD benefits”) to Sharon L. McGruder after she was unable to perform a light-duty position offered by ATC following a work-related injury. ATC contends that the superior court erred by affirming the Board’s decision that ATC was required to pay McGruder TTD benefits after she stopped working because it waived its defense of suitability of employment pursuant to Rule 240 (c) (i) of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Questions of law in a workers’ compensation appeal are reviewed de novo.2

Once [a] case is appealed from the [Board’s] appellate division, both this Court and the superior court must view the evidence in a light favorable to the party prevailing before that division. If any evidence supports the appellate division’s [factual] findings, those findings are binding and conclusive, and we may not substitute ourselves as a fact finding body in lieu of the Board.3

So viewed, the record shows that McGruder, who worked as a custodian, sustained a compensable back injury on June 8, 2009. She received TTD benefits until she returned to work in a light-duty phone operator/clerical position on September 8, 2009, based on a job offer made by the employer pursuant to OCGA § 34-9-240.4 McGruder performed the light-duty job through September 17, 2009. On September 17,2009, McGruder left work, and, the following day, she gave ATC a letter from her primary care physician, which letter stated that in addition to her work injury, McGruder had other serious medical problems and that she was unable to work in any job in any capacity. [470]*470The employer did not resume the payment of benefits following McGruder’s departure, and she filed a claim thereafter, seeking TTD benefits beginning September 18, 2009.

After an initial evidentiary hearing, the ALJ denied McGruder the TTD benefits she sought, concluding that the light-duty job provided by ATC was within her work restrictions, and she stopped working for reasons unrelated to her June 2009 work injury. The ALJ also determined that Board Rule 240 (c) (i), which provides that an employer waives its defense of suitability of employment if it fails to reinstate TTD benefits if an employee attempts a proffered suitable job for one work day but fails to continue working for more than fifteen work days, was invalid. The ALJ reasoned that the Rule exceeded the Board’s rule-making authority because it affected the employer’s substantive rights. The Board vacated the ALJ’s award, concluding that Board Rule 240 (c) (i) did not constitute improper burden-shifting or interfere with the employer’s substantive rights, and it remanded the case to the ALJ for findings consistent with its decision.

On remand, the parties agreed that no additional evidence would be introduced. The ALJ concluded that McGruder was entitled to a resumption of TTD benefits when she stopped working within 15 days of attempting the light-duty job, pending a hearing regarding her continued entitlement to those benefits; that ATC’s failure to reinstate the benefits resulted in a waiver of the defense of suitability of employment for that time period commencing when she stopped working through the date of the hearing; and that ATC had not met its burden of showing a change in condition. Additionally, the ALJ concluded that McGruder stopped working due to medical conditions unrelated to her work injury; that by November 10, 2010, her physician had released her to light-duty restriction; and that ATC’s representative testified that the light-duty position was no longer available for McGruder as of October 2010. The ALJ denied McGruder’s claim for medical treatment of her right shoulder and her depression on the ground that they were not related to her work injury. Finally, the ALJ awarded attorney fees to McGruder in the amount of $250, finding impermissible and improper ATC’s motion requesting that the ALJ ignore the Board’s order. ATC appealed to the appellate division of the Board, which affirmed the ALJ’s award. ATC appealed to the superior court, which affirmed the Board’s decision, and this appeal followed.

ATC argues that the Board and the superior court erred by affirming the ALJ’s award requiring ATC to pay McGruder TTD benefits after she left light-duty work (for reasons unrelated to her work injury) based upon ATC’s waiver of its defense of suitability of [471]*471employment pursuant to Board Rule 240 (c) (i). We disagree.

Former OCGA § 34-9-240 (b) (1) provided:

... [I]f the authorized treating physician releases an employee to return to work with restrictions and the employer tenders a suitable job to the employee within those restrictions,. . . [i]f the employee attempts the proffered job and is unable to perform the job for more than 15 working days, then weekly benefits shall be immediately reinstated, and the burden shall be upon the employer to prove that the employee is not entitled to continuing benefits [.]

Board Rule 240 reiterates OCGA § 34-9-240 (b) (1), but adds that the “[f]ailure to immediately reinstate benefits pursuant to Board Rule 240 (c) [ ] shall result in the waiver of the employer/insurer’s defense of the suitability of employment for the period of time the employer/ insurer did not pay the employee’s weekly income benefits when due.”5

Here, McGruder worked in the light-duty position for more than a week before she stopped working. Therefore, pursuant to the plain language of former OCGA § 34-9-240 (b) (1), which contains no exceptions, ATC was required to immediately reinstate McGruder’s TTD benefits. The fact that she stopped working the light-duty position for reasons unrelated to her injury did not relieve ATC from paying TTD benefits. Pursuant to Rule 240 (c) (i), ATC’s failure to immediately reinstate McGruder’s TTD benefits resulted in a waiver of its defense of suitability of employment.

We reject ATC’s argument that Rule 240 is invalid and exceeds the Board’s rule-making authority because the rule affects an employer’s substantive rights. In Mulligan v. Selective HR Solutions,6 the Supreme Court of Georgia addressed a similar argument with regard to Board Rule 205,7 reiterating that

[ujnder OCGA § 34-9-59, the Boardis empowered and authorized to adopt proper rules of procedure to govern the exercise of its functions and hearings before the Board or any of its members or administrative law judges. However, this power [472]*472is not without limitation.

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Bluebook (online)
756 S.E.2d 702, 326 Ga. App. 469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/technical-college-system-v-mcgruder-gactapp-2014.