Alcozer v. North Country Food Bank

• Decision Date: 29 November 2001
• Docket Number: No. CX-01-19.,CX-01-19.
• Citation: 635 N.W.2d 695
• Parties: Arturo ALCOZER, Relator, v. NORTH COUNTRY FOOD BANK, and American States Insurance Co., Respondents, Polk County, Self-Insured/Minn. Counties Ins. Trust, Respondent, and MN Department of Human Services, Intervenor.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

635 N.W.2d 695

Arturo ALCOZER, Relator, v. NORTH COUNTRY FOOD BANK, and American States Insurance Co., Respondents,

Polk County, Self-Insured/Minn. Counties Ins. Trust, Respondent, and

MN Department of Human Services, Intervenor.

No. CX-01-19.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

November 29, 2001.

John A. Winters, Crookston, appellant attorney.

Mark J. Freeman, Minneapolis, (North Country Food Banks) respondent attorney.

Timothy P. Eclov, Minneapolis, (Polk County), respondent attorney.

Suzette C. Schommer, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, Intervenor attorney.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

STRINGER, Justice.

Relator Arturo Alcozer appeals from the dismissal of his claim for workers' compensation. At the time of his alleged injury, Alcozer and his family were receiving assistance through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. In order to avoid a sanction under AFDC, Alcozer participated in the Polk County Community Work Experience Program (CWEP), which was administered for the county by the Minnesota Department of Economic Security. Alcozer alleged that he was injured while unloading a truck at North Country Food Bank (North Country) in Crookston, Minnesota, a nonprofit organization that had agreed to host Polk County CWEP participants at its facility. Alcozer asserted a workers' compensation claim against North Country and Polk County. His claim was dismissed by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry based on its conclusion that Alcozer was not entitled to seek workers' compensation benefits because he was not an "employee" as defined by Minn.Stat. § 176.011, subd. 9 (2000), and because Minn.Stat. § 256.737, subd. 7 (1996), the Injury Protection Program (IPP), provided the sole remedy for injuries arising out of any community work experience program. On Alcozer's appeal, the ruling of the compensation judge dismissing his claim on the basis that he was not an employee of either North Country or Polk County was affirmed by the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA).

We affirm.

At the time of the workers' compensation hearing, Alcozer was divorced with children and had been living in Minnesota since 1985 when he and his family moved from Texas. He worked as a farm laborer, but then turned to public assistance for help. In December 1996, Alcozer and his family were receiving AFDC payments of $1,000 per month.¹ Polk County Human Services² informed Alcozer that in order to avoid sanctions that would reduce his family's AFDC payments, he would need to participate in work activities.

Polk County contracted with the local Minnesota Department of Economic Security Work Force Center (Work Force Center) to provide job training and placement and administer the state and federal work activity requirements for non-exempt AFDC recipients residing in the county. When first referred to the Work Force Center, AFDC recipients like Alcozer were given an orientation and required to conduct a four-week job search. Alcozer did not secure employment during the first four weeks of his search and was therefore enrolled in CWEP, a program administered by the Work Force Center on behalf of Polk County.

The Polk County CWEP program was operating under Minn.Stat. § 256.737 (1996) which established community work experience programs, authorized by federal legislation,³ to provide AFDC recipients who were unable to secure paid employment the opportunity to gain job skills and comply with work activity requirements by participating in activities at governmental or nonprofit social service sites.⁴ Federal regulations allowed states to "provide worker's compensation or other comparable protection for CWEP participants," 45 C.F.R. § 238.18 (1994), thus permitting the establishment of a program in lieu of workers' compensation for CWEP participants. Accordingly, the purpose of Minnesota's IPP program was to provide "[p]ayment of any claims resulting from an alleged injury or death of a recipient participating in a community work experience program established and operated by a county * * *." Minn.Stat. § 256.737, subd. 7.⁵ The statute authorizing the IPP program further provided:

The procedure established by this section is exclusive of all other legal, equitable, and statutory remedies against the state, its political subdivisions, or employees of the state or its political subdivisions. The claimant shall not be entitled to seek damages from any state, county, tribal, or reservation insurance policy or self-insurance program.

Id., subd. 7(f). The IPP specifically excluded coverage for "pain and suffering, lost wages, or other benefits provided in chapter 176." Id., subd. 7(e).

When CWEP was developed, the Work Force Center approached North Country and other nonprofit organizations in the community about becoming CWEP sites and helping individuals gain work history. North Country and the Work Force Center signed a "Contractual Agreement" providing that North Country would provide supervision, a safe working environment, and sufficient job duties for CWEP participants at the site. Ron Graham, executive director of North Country, testified before the workers' compensation judge that he asked whether North Country would be liable if a participant was injured on-site and was told that CWEP was responsible for compensation. He further testified that North Country did not carry Workers' Compensation insurance on CWEP participants nor would North Country participate in the program if required to carry insurance for CWEP participants, stating that CWEP participants provide "marginal help to us in the first place, and it's just not something that would make sense to us." The only reference to responsibility for liability in the agreement signed by North Country and CWEP was North Country's promise to report any injuries to the Department of Economic Security within seven days. Before participating in work activities through CWEP, Alcozer signed a "CWEP Participant Agreement" in which he agreed to participate in CWEP to avoid sanctions that would reduce his family's AFDC benefits. Alcozer also signed an IPP medical release form that authorized the exchange of information necessary to process claims under the IPP and provided information about how to file an IPP claim. Alcozer also completed a blank "Application for Employment: CWEP Position" to be provided to the CWEP placement sites where Alcozer decided he might like to work. Alcozer began working at North Country on December 11, 1996. To maintain his full AFDC benefits, Alcozer was required to work 16 hours a week, but the federal authorizing legislation provided that he was not entitled to be paid for his participation.⁶ Each day when he arrived at the food bank, he would report to the foreman who would document his hours and tell him what to do. Alcozer explained that his work involved unloading trucks, making up food packages, and sweeping. Graham acknowledged that Alcozer provided a benefit to North Country.

Alcozer testified that he was injured while working at the warehouse facility of respondent North Country in Crookston, Minnesota on February 10, 1997. Alcozer stated, "I was lifting a pallet, and it pushed me up against the wall, and then it twisted, and that's when my arm hit up against the wall." The initial medical assessment indicated that Alcozer suffered neuropathy from a contusion of the elbow around the ulnar nerve. He received physical therapy, ultrasound, and chiropractic treatments through the spring and summer of 1997. Alcozer continued to experience pain and numbness in his left elbow and three of the fingers on his left hand, and an orthopedic evaluation revealed that he had cubital tunnel syndrome and mild carpal tunnel syndrome. After a submuscular ulnar nerve transposition was performed in December 1997, he no longer suffered from pain in his elbow, but he still experiences numbness in his fingers. His medical bills totaling $3,002.75 were initially paid by the Medical Assistance program.

Under the IPP, any claim for more than $1,000 must be presented to the legislature and payment will be made only if authorized in a bill that passes both houses and is signed by the governor. Minn.Stat. § 256.737, subd. 7(d) (1996).⁷ Alcozer's medical bills were brought to the attention of Randy Rennich at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) who is responsible for assisting counties with investigations of CWEP injury claims, authorizing payments for bills under $1,000, and submitting larger claims to the legislature's Joint Senate-House Subcommittee on Claims. Rennich testified that to his knowledge there is no judicial review of the legislature's action, but that all claims presented had been approved and paid.

Rennich arranged for an evaluation of Alcozer's claim and was subsequently advised that the claims be paid. Rennich recommended to the Joint Senate-House Claims Subcommittee that the legislature approve Alcozer's claim for medical bills. He also advised the subcommittee that Alcozer may be applying for partial permanent disability benefits under the IPP in the future. The bill authorizing payment was passed⁸ and the Medical Assistance program was reimbursed for Alcozer's medical expenses. Alcozer has not initiated any claims with the IPP, nor has he personally received any payments from the IPP.

On March 1, 1999, Alcozer filed a workers' compensation claim listing North Country as his employer and seeking temporary total disability benefits from the date of the injury. On March 31, 1999, the DHS filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings on the grounds that it was entitled to reimbursement for medical and subsistence payments made on behalf of Alcozer from the Medical Assistance program and AFDC. No action was taken on the motion. On September 27, a compensation judge issued a summary decision dismissing Alcozer's claim petition on the basis that Alcozer was not an...