UPS AIRLINES v. West

366 S.W.3d 472, 2012 WL 1890050, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 62

• Court: Kentucky Supreme Court
• Decided: May 24, 2012
• Docket: 2011-SC-000295-WC
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

This appeal concerns the extent to which KRS 342.730(6) entitles UPS Airlines to receive credit against its liability under KRS 342.730(1) for the payment of Loss of License benefits that are the product of a collective bargaining agreement between UPS and the Independent Pilots Association (IPA) of which the claimant is a member.

Reversing an Administrative Law Judge’s decision, the Workers’ Compensation Board found that KRS 342.730(6) did not entitle UPS to a dollar-for-dollar credit against the claimant’s past due and future income benefits for all benefits paid under a “Loss of License Insurance” plan. The Board relied on GAF Corp. v. Barnes¹ to determine that Loss of License benefits were the product of a collective bargaining agreement and, thus, were not funded exclusively by the employer as required by KRS 342.730(6). The Court of Appeals affirmed.

We affirm to the extent that UPS was not entitled to a dollar-for-dollar credit, but we reverse with respect to the legal conclusion' that Loss of License benefits were not funded exclusively by the employer for the purposes of KRS 342.730(6) because they were bargained-for benefits. Enacted in an apparent response to GAF v. Barnes, KRS 342.730(6) entitles UPS to credit its liability for past due or future income benefits based on the payment of Loss of License benefits, but it does so only to the extent that Loss of License benefits duplicate, i.e., “overlap” workers’ compensation benefits. KRS 342.730(6) does not entitle UPS to credit the overpayment of voluntary benefits against future income benefits.

The claimant, a UPS Airlines pilot, sustained a work-related back injury in 2003 for which he underwent a lumbar fusion. UPS paid voluntary temporary total disability (TTD) benefits with respect to the surgery through December 21, 2005 and also paid Loss of License benefits during part of that period. The claimant returned to work on December 22, 2005 and continued to work when his claim was decided.

UPS paid the entire premium for the Loss of License plan, which entitled an IPA-member pilot to receive 66 2/3% of the member’s “pay period guarantee” for up to 20 pay periods if the member was unable to exercise the privileges of an FAA medical certificate due to medical problems and remained out of work after a six-month waiting period. A pay period was 28 days and the benefit was paid' biweekly. The plan contained no internal offset that required a pilot who received workers’ compensation benefits to reimburse UPS for Loss of License benefits.

The claimant’s average weekly wage as a pilot was $2,377.14. KRS 342.730(l)(a) limits total disability benefits to a maximum of 66 2/3% of the injured worker’s average weekly wage or to the state’s average weekly wage. As a consequence, the claimant received the maximum TTD benefit of $571.42 per week, which was about 24% of his average weekly wage, during the period from October 18, 2004 through December 21, 2005. UPS records indicated that he received Loss of License benefits of $2,946.75 bi-weekly, i e., $1,473.38 per week, from May 9, 2005 through December 19, 2005 and received an additional $841.42 for the period from December 20, 2005 through January 3, 2006, for a total of $50,936.67. The combined weekly benefits totaled $2,044.80 during the weeks that both were paid, which was about 86% of his average weekly wage. Unlike wages, workers’ compensation benefits are not subject to income and payroll taxes. Income benefits received for personal injury or sickness through an accident or health plan for which the worker does not pay the premium generally are taxable.

UPS sought leave to credit the claimant’s Loss of License benefits against its liability for income benefits. It reasoned that KRS 342.730(6) permitted a credit against “[a]ll income benefits,” which included both past due and future benefits awarded under KRS 342.730(1). Thus, having overpaid its liability for TTD benefits by failing to take credit for Loss of License benefits, UPS argued that KRS 342.730(6) entitled it to credit the overpayment against past-due and future benefits payable under any permanent partial disability award the claimant received.

The claimant asserted that Loss of License benefits did not fall within the purview of KRS 342.730(6) because they were unrelated to workers’ compensation and were a bargained-for benefit. He reasoned that they were not funded exclusively by UPS because IPA members gave up other types of benefits in exchange for them. He argued in the alternative that UPS should at most receive credit for those periods that Loss of License benefits overlapped benefits awarded under KRS 342.730(1).

Having bifurcated the claim at the parties’ request, the ALJ considered only whether UPS was entitled to credit for the disputed benefits and, if so, the amount of the credit. The parties eventually stipulated to a 20% permanent impairment rating, which entitled the claimant to permanent partial disability benefits of $85.71 per week for 425 weeks beginning on December 22, 2005. The ALJ awarded UPS a dollar-for-dollar credit in the amount of $50,936.67 against “any and all income benefits ... including future income benefits” for all of the benefits paid under the “Loss of License” plan.

The claimant appealed following the denial of his petition for reconsideration, reiterating the arguments he made to the ALJ. He noted that the dollar-for-dollar credit would offset his entire permanent partial disability award although Loss of License benefits ceased when he returned to work.

The Board and the Court of Appeals relied on GAF Corp. v. Barnes to determine that Loss of License benefits were not funded exclusively by the employer because they were the product of a collective bargaining agreement. Thus, KRS 342.730(6) did not entitle UPS to a credit.

GAF Corp. was decided in 1995, at which time Chapter 342 did not provide an offset based on the receipt of private employer-funded income benefits. At issue was whether disability retirement benefits funded entirely by the employer could properly be credited against benefits awarded under KRS 342.730(1). The court determined that the employer failed to prove its entitlement because the private benefits were the product of a collectively-bargained agreement and not only did the terms of the plan contain no reference to a credit, they also failed to provide substantial evidence that the private benefits fulfilled the same purpose as workers’ compensation.² The court determined subsequently in Williams v. Eastern Coal Corporation³ that a credit against statutorily-mandated benefits based on the receipt of benefits from a private disability or sickness and accident plan must be authorized by statute. Otherwise, any credit must occur against benefits provided by the private plan.

KRS 842.730(6) was enacted effective December 12,1996. It provides as follows:

All income benefits otherwise payable pursuant to this chapter shall be offset by payments made under an exclusively employer-funded disability or sickness and accident plan which extends income benefits for the same disability covered by this chapter, except where the employer-funded plan contains an internal offset provision for workers’ compensation benefits which is inconsistent with this provision.

The ALJ construed KRS 342.730(6) as entitling UPS to credit for all of the claimant’s Loss of License benefits, which had the effect of negating his entitlement under their agreement to benefits equaling 66 2/3% of his “pay period guarantee” for up to 20 four-week pay periods. It also credited UPS’s overpayment of TTD against future income benefits. The Board and the Court of Appeals construed the term “exclusively employer-funded” as not including bargained-for benefits. We conclude that neither construction is correct.

Our role when construing a statute is to effectuate its purpose.⁴ KRS 342.730(6) appears to have been enacted in response to GAF Corp. v. Barnes. Its purpose is to avoid a duplication of income-replacement benefits with respect to injuries that occur after its effective date by permitting private contractual benefits that duplicate benefits awarded under KRS 342.730(1) to offset them. KRS 342.730(6) addresses the reality that many employer-funded plans contain an internal offset for workers’ compensation benefits but that others do not. Moreover, many, such as the UPS plan, include neither an internal offset nor a provision stating explicitly that the private benefit is intended entirely as a supplement to workers’ compensation coverage. KRS 342.730(6) fills the gap by requiring an offset.

Nothing in KRS 342.730(6) evinces a legislative intent to negate the effect of an employer’s agreement to entirely fund a weekly benefit greater than the maximum allowed by KRS 342.730(1). Income benefits paid under a private plan duplicate income benefits awarded for the same disability under KRS 342.730(1) only to the extent that they overlap the statutory benefit, ie., only to the extent that they are less than or equal to the workers’ compensation benefit; cover the same period of time; and are not themselves offset by the receipt of benefits under KRS 342.730(1). We conclude, therefore, that KRS 342.730(6) does not entitle an employer who agrees to fund a weekly benefit greater than the maximum workers’ compensation benefit to credit the contractual excess against its workers’ compensation liability. To do so would deprive the injured worker of the benefit of the parties’ bargain.

Consistent with KRS 342.730(6)’s purpose, the words “[a]ll income benefits otherwise payable” allow a credit against future as well as past-due income benefits due to an overlap with private benefits. In order to encourage employers to pay income benefits voluntarily, when liability is clear, employers have been allowed to credit an overpayment of voluntary TTD benefits against past-due but not against future income benefits.⁵ Although KRS 342.730(6) allows an employer to receive credit for overlapping past-due and future benefits, we are not convinced that it allows an overpayment of voluntary TTD benefits to offset the worker’s future income benefits. We reach that conclusion because although the statute refers to “[a]ll income benefits,” it provides an offset only for “payments” rather than for “all payments” made under an exclusively employer-funded plan. Likewise, it refers to an offset against benefits that are “otherwise payable” rather than benefits that are “paid or payable.”

Stated plainly, KRS 342.730(6) entitles an employer to credit disability or sickness and accident benefits that it funds exclusively against its liability under KRS 342.730(1) for overlapping past-due or future income benefits that are based on the same disability. It does not entitle an employer to credit the overpayment of voluntary income benefits against future income benefits.

UPS and the claimant’s labor union were charged with knowledge of KRS 342.730(6) when they negotiated their agreement concerning Loss of License Insurance. The agreement did not contain an internal offset for workers’ compensation benefits but also did not contain a statement indicating that plan benefits were intended entirely as a supplement to workers’ compensation. We conclude, therefore, that KRS 342.730(6) entitled UPS to credit Loss of License benefits against its liability for benefits otherwise payable under KRS 342.730(1) to the extent that the two benefits overlapped because Loss of License benefits were funded exclusively by the employer; they covered the same disability for which the claimant received benefits under KRS 342.730(1); and they were not offset under the plan based on his receipt of workers’ compensation benefits.

The Loss of License benefit to which the parties agreed exceeded the claimant’s benefit under KRS 342.730(1) during the weeks that they overlapped. KRS 342.730(6) entitled UPS to credit overlapping Loss of License benefits against the TTD benefits that were otherwise payable, but it did not entitle UPS to take credit for the contractual excess. Having failed to credit the private benefits when making TTD payments, UPS was entitled to credit the overpayment of TTD against past-due benefits, if any, but was not entitled to take credit against its liability for future partial disability benefits.

The decision of the Court of Appeals is hereby affirmed in part and reversed in part and this claim is remanded to the ALJ to award the appropriate credit.

All sitting. MINTON, C.J.; ABRAMSON, CUNNINGHAM, SCHRODER, and VENTERS, JJ., concur. SCOTT, J., dissents by separate opinion in which NOBLE, J., joins.

1 . 906 S.W.2d 353 (Ky.1995).

2 . Id. at 356.

3 . 952 S.W.2d 696, 698-700 (Ky.1997) (overruling Beth-Elkhorn Corp. v. Lucas, 670 S.W.2d 480 (Ky.App.1983), and Conkwright v. Rockwell International, 920 S.W.2d 90 (Ky.App.1996).

4 . KRS 446.080.

5 . See, for example, Triangle Insulation and Sheet Metal Co. v. Stratemeyer, 782 S.W.2d 628 (Ky.1990) (entire overpayment of TTD may be credited but only against past-due benefits).