Allee v. Contractors, Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 November 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88SC229,88SC229
• Citation: 783 P.2d 273
• Parties: Charles B. ALLEE, Petitioner, v. CONTRACTORS, INC.; State Compensation Insurance Authority; the Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado; and Director, Division of Labor, State of Colorado, Respondents.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 273

783 P.2d 273

Charles B. ALLEE, Petitioner, v. CONTRACTORS, INC.; State Compensation Insurance Authority the Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado; and Director, Division of Labor, State of Colorado, Respondents.

No. 88SC229.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

Nov. 27, 1989.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 18, 1989.

Donald J. Fisher, Jr., P.C., Donald J. Fisher, Jr., Denver, for petitioner.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Michael J. Steiner, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Carolyn A. Boyd, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondent Indus. Claim Appeals Office.

Paul Tochtrop, Eliot J. Wiener, Denver, for respondents State Compensation Ins. Fund and Contractors, Inc.

Gerald P. McDermott, Sarney, Trattler & Waitkus, P.C., William J. Macdonald, Terry D. Gordon, Denver, for amicus curiae Colorado Trial Lawyers Ass'n.

Robert A. Weinberger, P.C., Michael E. Harr, Denver, for amicus curiae Colorado Defense Lawyers Ass'n.

Chief Justice QUINN delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This case involves the statutory program for vocational rehabilitation established in 1975 as part of the Workers' Compensation Act, §§ 8-40-101 to 8-54-127, 3B C.R.S. (1986 & 1989 Supp.), and later repealed as of January 1, 1987. ¹ The question is whether a partially disabled worker, who was awarded temporary partial disability benefits for an industrial injury sustained prior to July 1, 1987, and who was ordered by an administrative law judge to undergo evaluation for vocational rehabilitation, is entitled to receive temporary partial disability benefits during the period of time commencing with the worker's attainment of maximum medical improvement and terminating with either the worker's enrollment in a vocational rehabilitation program or the entry of an administrative order that vocational rehabilitation is not necessary to render the worker fit for a remunerative occupation. In Allee v. Contractors, Inc., 761 P.2d 250, (Colo.App.1988), the court of appeals held that a disabled worker's right to temporary partial disability benefits terminates once the worker reaches maximum medical improvement, with the result that temporary partial disability benefits are not available during the interim period from the worker's attainment of maximum medical improvement until either the worker actually commences a vocational rehabilitation program or until an administrative law judge rules against the worker on the worker's need for vocational rehabilitation. We conclude that when, as here, a worker has suffered a disabling industrial injury prior to July 1, 1987, and has been awarded temporary partial disability benefits and has also been ordered to undergo evaluation for vocational rehabilitation, the worker is entitled to receive temporary partial disability benefits until such time as he actually commences a vocational rehabilitation program or an administrative determination is made that vocational rehabilitation is unnecessary. We accordingly reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case with directions to return it to the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel for further proceedings.

I.

Charles B. Allee, the workers' compensation claimant, was employed by Contractors, Inc. as a field mechanic. On September 9, 1985, Allee fell from a tractor during the course of his employment and tore some cartilage in his left knee. Approximately one month following this injury, Allee underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and, after receiving physical therapy for two weeks, was informed by his treating physician that he was able to return to work. Allee, however, did not return to work because the knee injury prevented him from performing his duties.

On December 13, 1985, Contractors' company physician examined Allee and concluded that he could return to his job without any restrictions. Allee then sought the advice of another physician who, on January 10, 1986, concluded that Allee was unable to return to work because he had some degree of permanent impairment and had not yet reached maximum recovery. Later, on April 18, 1986, this same physician determined that Allee had a four percent permanent partial disability as a result of the industrial injury.

In January, 1986, Contractors admitted liability for temporary total disability benefits from September 11, 1985, the date of Allee's injury, to December 13, 1985, the date on which, according to Contractors' company physician, Allee was able to return to work. Allee objected to the discontinuation of temporary total disability benefits on December 13, 1985, and requested a hearing on temporary and permanent disability benefits and vocational rehabilitation.

On August 20, 1986, a hearing was conducted before an administrative law judge, ² who determined that Allee was entitled to temporary total disability benefits until March 1, 1986, the date on which Allee began part-time work on miscellaneous mechanic jobs. The administrative law judge also determined that Allee was entitled to temporary partial disability benefits from March 1, 1986, until August 20, 1986, the date of the hearing, on the basis of Allee's diminished earnings during that period of time. ³ The administrative law judge also ordered that Allee be evaluated for vocational rehabilitation, but did not determine whether Allee had reached maximum medical improvement.

On June 26, 1987, a vocational evaluator filed a report with the Industrial Claim Appeals Office, stating that Allee was ineligible for vocational rehabilitation because he had transferable skills which were "readily marketable" at a wage level equal to that of his former employment. Allee challenged this determination and requested the administrative law judge to declare him eligible for vocational rehabilitation. Before Allee's challenge was resolved, however, Contractors and its insurance carrier petitioned the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel (panel) to review the administrative law judge's order awarding Allee temporary partial disability benefits from March 1 to August 20, 1986.

The panel set aside that portion of the administrative order that awarded Allee temporary partial disability benefits subsequent to April 18, 1986, the date on which Allee's treating physician determined that he had a four percent permanent partial disability. Because, in the panel's view, there was no evidence that Allee's condition remained unstable after April 18, 1986, the panel remanded the case to the administrative law judge with instructions to determine the date of Allee's maximum medical improvement.

Allee appealed the panel's denial of temporary partial disability benefits to the court of appeals. The court of appeals affirmed the panel's ruling and, in so doing, relied on two provisions of the workers' compensation scheme: section 8-51-103, 3B C.R.S. (1986), and Part V(D)(5) of the Workers' Compensation Rules of Procedure, 7 Colo.Code of Reg. 1101-3, p. 10 (1983). Section 8-51-103 provides that in case of temporary partial disability, an employee is entitled to receive sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the impairment of his earning capacity "during continuance thereof." Part V(D)(5) of the Workers' Compensation Rules states that an insurance carrier is to provide temporary disability benefits "if applicable" until implementation of the vocational rehabilitation program. In the court of appeals' view, any residual disability subsequent to Allee's attainment of maximum medical improvement "is no longer temporary, but permanent" within the meaning of section 8-51-103, and temporary total disability benefits after the attainment of maximum medical improvement would not be "applicable" within the intendment of Part (V)(D)(5). 761 P.2d at 252-53.

We granted Allee's petition for certiorari to review the court of appeals decision. We conclude that, based upon an examination of the text, structure, and purpose of the Workers' Compensation Act, a partially disabled worker such as Allee, who has been awarded temporary partial disability payments and has been ordered to undergo vocational rehabilitation evaluation, is entitled to receive temporary partial disability benefits after his attainment of maximum medical improvement until such time as he either commences a vocational rehabilitation program or an administrative determination is made that vocational rehabilitation is not reasonably necessary to render him fit for a remunerative occupation.

II.

Allee's entitlement to temporary partial disability benefits depends upon an analysis of those provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act that were in effect at the time of his industrial injury and during the course of the administrative proceedings on his claim. Our analysis of the statutory scheme necessarily proceeds from the long-established rule that a statute should be construed in a manner that gives effect to the legislative purpose underlying its enactment. E.g., Colorado Common Cause v. Meyer, 758 P.2d 153, 160 (Colo.1988); S.G.W. v. People, 752 P.2d 86, 87 (Colo.1988); Engelbrecht v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., 680 P.2d 231, 233 (Colo.1984). The purpose of the Workers' Compensation Act is "to relieve injured workers from the adverse economic effects caused by a work-related injury or occupational disease." Grover v. Industrial Commission, 759 P.2d 705, 709 (Colo.1988); see also, e.g., City of Boulder v. Payne, 162 Colo. 345, 350, 426 P.2d 194, 197 (1967); Vanadium Corporation v. Sargent, 134 Colo. 555, 562, 307 P.2d 454, 459 (1957). It is in light of this purpose that we have consistently construed the Workers' Compensation Act liberally in favor of the interests of injured workers. E.g., Grover, 759 P.2d at 705; Padilla v. Industrial Commission, 696 P.2d 273 (Colo.1985); James v. Irrigation Motor and Pump Co., Inc., 180 Colo. 195, 503 P.2d 1025 (1972). ⁴

The statutory scheme provides benefits for four separate categories of...