Baldock v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau

• Decision Date: 01 October 1996
• Docket Number: No. 960062,960062
• Citation: 554 N.W.2d 441
• Parties: Jeffrey BALDOCK, Claimant and Appellant, v. NORTH DAKOTA WORKERS COMPENSATION BUREAU, Appellee. and Grant's Mechanical, Inc., Respondent. Civil
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 441

554 N.W.2d 441

Jeffrey BALDOCK, Claimant and Appellant, v. NORTH DAKOTA WORKERS COMPENSATION BUREAU, Appellee and Grant's Mechanical, Inc., Respondent.

Civil No. 960062.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Oct. 1, 1996.

Douglas L. Broden, of Broden, Broden & Walker, Devils Lake, for claimant and appellant.

Jacqueline S. Anderson, Special Assistant Attorney General, of Nilles, Hansen & Davies, Ltd., Fargo, for appellee.

MARING, Justice.

Jeffrey Baldock appealed from a district court judgment upholding the denial of additional benefits to Baldock by the North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau (the Bureau). We hold the 1992 limitations on vocational rehabilitation retraining benefits, under Section 65-05.1-01, N.D.C.C., did not violate Baldock's equal protection rights under the federal or state constitutions. We also hold the Bureau's finding that Baldock's employer offered him a legitimate post-injury position is supported by a preponderance of the evidence, and we affirm the judgment.

On August 14, 1992, Baldock injured his left knee while working as a heating and air conditioning serviceman for Grant's Mechanical in Fargo. He filed a claim for workers compensation benefits. The Bureau accepted the claim and paid related medical expenses and disability benefits. Baldock's treating physician concluded Baldock could not return to his former job because his injury restricted his ability to climb and lift. Grant Mechanical, working with a vocational specialist, identified a modified position for Baldock doing shop maintenance and inventory control. Baldock concedes this position is within his physical limitations. However, Baldock was earning $432.00 per week before his injury and the new position only pays $280.00 per week. Consequently, Baldock declined the job offer and requested the Bureau to retrain him for a higher paying job. The Bureau refused to provide Baldock occupational retraining and, instead, entered an order awarding him partial disability benefits. Baldock requested reconsideration of the Bureau's order. After a hearing, the Bureau's initial determination was upheld. Baldock appealed to the district court, which upheld the Bureau's order, and Baldock filed this appeal.

Baldock argues the statutory scheme for rehabilitation benefits violates his equal protection rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ¹ and under Article I, Sections 21 and 22, of the North Dakota Constitution. ² The relevant statutory provisions in effect in 1992 when Baldock was injured are found under Sections 65-05.1-01 ³ and 65-05-10, N.D.C.C.:

"65-05.1-01. Rehabilitation services.

* * * * * *

"3. It is the goal of vocational rehabilitation to return the disabled employee to substantial gainful employment with a minimum of retraining, as soon as possible after an injury occurs. 'Substantial gainful employment' means bona fide work, for remuneration, which is reasonably attainable in light of the individual's injury, medical limitations, age, education, previous occupation, experience, and transferable skills, and which offers an opportunity to restore the employee as soon as practical and as nearly as possible to the employee's average weekly earnings at the time of injury, or to seventy-five percent of the average weekly wage in this state on the date the rehabilitation consultant's report is issued under section 65-05.1-02.1, whichever is less. The purpose of defining substantial gainful employment in terms of earnings is to determine the first appropriate priority option under subsection 4 of section 65-05.1-04 which meets this income test.

"4. The first appropriate option among the following, calculated to return the employee to substantial gainful employment must be chosen for the employee:

"a. Return to the same position.

"b. Return to a modified position...."

"65-05-10. Partial disability--Weekly compensation. If the injury causes temporary partial disability resulting in decrease of earning capacity, the compensation is sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the difference between the injured employee's average weekly wages before the injury and the employee's wage earning capacity after the injury in the same or another employment.

* * * * * *

"7. Benefits must be paid during the continuance of partial disability, not to exceed a period of five years...."

The statute expressly declares the purpose of the rehabilitation legislation is to return an injured employee to substantial gainful employment as quickly and with as little retraining as possible. The vocational rehabilitation specialist submitted a plan requiring Baldock to return to work with his former employer in the modified position of shop maintenance and inventory control, which matched Baldock's post injury physical limitations. The plan also awarded Baldock partial disability payments under Section 65-05-10, N.D.C.C. The modified position paid slightly more than seventy-five percent of the state average weekly wage of $270.00 and, therefore, met the statute's goal of returning Baldock to substantial gainful employment. Consequently, the Bureau determined Baldock was not entitled to further vocational retraining services.

Baldock argues the statute creates a classification that discriminates against injured workers whose pre-injury earnings exceed seventy-five percent of the state average weekly wage and favors injured workers whose pre-injury earnings are equal to or less than seventy-five percent of the state average weekly wage. Baldock argues the statute's retraining structure unfairly and unconstitutionally returns those lower wage workers, but not the higher wage workers, to their pre-injury earning capacity. Baldock concedes the statutory scheme is designed "to soften the blow" to higher wage workers by paying them partial disability benefits equal to two-thirds of the difference between their pre-injury and post-injury wages. However, he contends those payments, which generally terminate after five years, do not adequately alleviate the discriminatory impact of the statute.

All legislative enactments are imbued with a strong presumption of constitutionality, and the presumption is conclusive unless it is clearly shown that the statute contravenes the state or federal constitution. North Dakota Council of School Adm'rs v. Sinner, 458 N.W.2d 280 (N.D.1990). It is well settled that a legislative enactment is not unconstitutional merely because it is not all embracing or does not attempt to cure all the evils within its reach. Patch v. Sebelius, 320 N.W.2d 511 (N.D.1982). The wisdom, necessity, and expediency of legislation are questions for legislative not judicial determination. Haney v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau, 518 N.W.2d 195 (N.D.1994).

The Equal Protection Clause of the United State's Constitution does not forbid classifications, but does keep governmental decisionmakers from treating differently persons who are in all relevant respects alike. NL Indus., Inc. v. North Dakota State Tax Comm'r, 498 N.W.2d 141, 148 (N.D.1993). Similarly, Article I, Sections 21 and 22 of the North Dakota Constitution, which we have long viewed as providing our state constitutional guarantee of equal protection, do not prohibit legislative classifications or mandate identical treatment of different categories of persons but, rather, subject legislative classifications to different standards of scrutiny, depending upon the right that may be infringed by the challenged classification. Bismarck Pub. School Dist. No. 1 v. State, 511 N.W.2d 247, 255-56 (N.D.1994).

When a statute is challenged on equal protection grounds we use one of three standards of review depending upon the challenged statutory classification and the right allegedly infringed. Haney v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau, 518 N.W.2d 195 (N.D.1994); Lee v. Job Service North Dakota, 440 N.W.2d 518 (N.D.1989). In Gange v. Clerk of Burleigh County Dist. Court, 429 N.W.2d 429, 433 (N.D.1988), we outlined the standards for judicial scrutiny of equal protection claims under both the federal and state constitutions:

"When a statute is challenged on equal protection grounds, we first locate the appropriate standard of review. We apply strict scrutiny to an inherently suspect classification or infringement of a fundamental right and strike down the challenged statutory classification 'unless it is shown that the statute promotes a compelling governmental interest and that the distinctions drawn by the law are necessary to further its purpose.' ... When an 'important substantive right' is involved, we apply an intermediate standard of review which requires a ' "close correspondence between statutory classification and legislative goals." ' ... When no suspect class, fundamental right, or important substantive right is involved, we apply a rational basis standard and sustain the legislative classification unless it is patently arbitrary and bears no rational relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose." (Citations omitted.)

Baldock argues we should use the intermediate standard of review for his equal protection challenge because: (1) the challenged statute imposes a wealth-based classification, and (2) persons receiving workers compensation benefits are denied access to the courts.

In State v. Carpenter, 301 N.W.2d 106 (N.D.1980), this court used an intermediate standard of review to resolve an equal protection challenge against a wealth-based classification under a criminal statute which discriminated against indigents by affording a defense to a criminal charge of issuing checks without sufficient funds on the ability of the defendant to pay the amount of the nonsufficient fund checks. We said "while indigency is not a 'suspect classification' at the present time, we believe that the combination of the classification based upon wealth and the vital interests of [the defendant] at stake...