Collins v. Excel Specialty Products, 01-820.

• Decision Date: 07 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-820.,01-820.
• Citation: 347 Ark. 811,69 S.W.3d 14
• Parties: Wendy A. COLLINS v. EXCEL SPECIALTY PRODUCTS and Crawford & Company.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

69 S.W.3d 14

347 Ark. 811

Wendy A. COLLINS v. EXCEL SPECIALTY PRODUCTS and Crawford & Company.

No. 01-820.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

March 7, 2002.

Stephen M. Sharum, Fort Smith, for appellant.

Hardin, Jesson & Terry, PLC, by: J. Rodney Mills and J. Leslie Evitts, III, Fort Smith, for appellees.

W.H. "DUB" ARNOLD, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Wendy Collins, appeals from the decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission (hereinafter Commission) denying appellant's claim. The Commission adopted the Administrative Law Judge's decision finding that appellant was not performing employment services at the time of her injury. The court of appeals, in a 6-3 decision, reversed and remanded this case to the Commission for further consideration of appellant's claim in light of the court's recent decision in Matlock v. Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, 74 Ark. App. 322, 49 S.W.3d 126 (2001). Collins v. Excel Spec. Prod., 74 Ark.App. 400, 49 S.W.3d 161 (2001). Appellee Excel Specialty Products petitioned this Court for review from the court of appeals's decision reversing the Workers' Compensation Commission. We granted the petition for review. We reverse and remand the Commission's decision, thereby affirming the court of appeals.

I. Standard of Review

Upon a petition for review, we consider a case as though it had been originally filed in this Court. Estridge v. Waste Management, 343 Ark. 276, 33 S.W.3d 167 (2000); Maxey v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 341 Ark. 306, 18 S.W.3d 328 (2000); Woodall v. Hunnicutt Construction, 340 Ark. 377, 12 S.W.3d 630 (2000); White v. Georgia-Pacific Corporation, 339 Ark. 474, 6 S.W.3d 98 (1999); Burlington Indus. v. Pickett, 336 Ark. 515, 988 S.W.2d 3 (1999). We view the evidence in a light most favorable to the Commission's decision, and we uphold that decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Id.; Deffenbaugh Indus. v. Angus, 313 Ark. 100, 852 S.W.2d 804 (1993). We will not reverse the Commission's decision unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusions arrived at by the Commission. Pickett, 336 Ark. 515, 988 S.W.2d 3; ERC Contr. Yard & Sales v. Robertson, 335 Ark. 63, 977 S.W.2d 212 (1998).

II. Summary of Facts and Procedural History

Appellant was employed with appellee, Excel Specialty Products, as a production worker. Her job consisted of carving blocks of beef into beef steaks of sizes by weight as specified by her employer. Her production work included incentive pay for a certain production quota, and the employees on her production line were required to clock in and out on a time clock. Appellant and her co-workers were given fifteen-minute breaks in the morning and in the afternoon and a thirty-minute lunch break.

On November 2, 1999, sometime between the morning break and the lunch break, appellant left the production line to go to the bathroom for the purpose of urination. Between the production line and the restroom, appellant suffered a fall sustaining a fracture to her right wrist and arm.

The Administrative Law Judge denied appellant's claim reasoning as follows:

In the present case, the circumstances surrounding the claimant's alleged injury are not in dispute. The claimant testified that the respondent allowed employees to leave the line and go to the restroom whenever necessary and without "clocking out." She stated that the alleged accident and injury occurred after she had left her work station and while she was actually on her way to the restroom to relieve herself.

Clearly, at the time of her alleged accident and injury, the claimant was not engaged in the performance of any employment tasks which she had been specifically assigned by her employer, nor was she engaged in any activity which would directly benefit or advance the interests of her employer. Nor would her actions be considered inherently necessary for the performance of her required tasks. At most, her actions would only indirectly benefit her employer. Under the Court's ruling the Harding v. City of Texarkana, 62 Ark.App. 137, 970 S.W.2d 303 (1998), this is not sufficient to case the activity to be considered "employment services."

Based upon existing precedent, I am compelled to find that the claimant's alleged accident and injuries occurred at a time when she was not performing "employment services" as required by Ark.Code Ann. § 11-9-102(5)(B)(iii). Therefore, her alleged injury cannot be considered a "compensable injury" within the meaning of the Act.

As previously stated, the Commission adopted the Administrative Law Judge's decision and the court of appeals reversed and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Matlock, supra. We agree with the court of appeals that the case must be reversed and remanded; however, we hold that the Commission erred in this case in denying benefits to appellant.

III. Employment Services

The pivotal issue presented by this case is whether, pursuant to Act 796 of 1993, codified at Ark.Code. Ann. §§ 11-9-101, et seq. (Repl.1996, Supp.2001), appellant was performing employment services when she sustained an injury while on a restroom break at an employer-provided restroom located on the employer's premises.¹ To evaluate appellant's claim and the full Commission's decision, we are called upon to interpret the phrase "in the course of employment" and the term "employment services" as used in Ark.Code Ann. §§ 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) and 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii) (Supp.2001). When interpreting a statute, we construe it just as it reads, giving the words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language. Edens v. Superior Marble & Glass, 346 Ark. 487, 58 S.W.3d 369 (2001); Lawhon Farm Servs. v. Brown, 335 Ark. 276, 984 S.W.2d 1 (1998).

Act 796 of 1993 made significant changes in the workers' compensation statutes and in the way workers' compensation claims are to be resolved. White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., supra. Claims arising from injuries occurring before the effective date of Act 796 (July 1, 1993) were evaluated under a liberal approach. Eddington v. City Electric Co., 237 Ark. 804, 376 S.W.2d 550 (1964); Ark. Stat. Ann. § 81-1325(b)(4) (Supp.1979). However, Act 796 requires us to strictly construe the workers' compensation statutes. Ark.Code. Ann. § 11-9-704(c)(3); White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., supra. The doctrine of strict construction directs us to use the plain meaning of the statutory language. Edens v. Superior Marble & Glass, supra, and Lawhon Farm Servs. v. Brown, supra.

Act 796 defines a compensable injury as "[a]n accidental injury ... arising out of and in the course of employment...." Ark.Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(A)(i). A compensable injury does not include an "[i]njury which was inflicted upon the employee at a time when employment services were not being performed...." Ark.Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii) (emphasis added). However, Act 796 does not define the phrase "in the course of employment" or the term "employment services," Olsten Kimberly Quality Care v. Pettey, 328 Ark. 381, 944 S.W.2d 524 (1997). It, therefore, falls to this Court to define these terms in a manner that neither broadens nor narrows the scope Act 796 of 1993. Ark.Code Ann. § 11-9-1001 (Repl.1996). When the meaning of a statutory term is ambiguous, we look to the language of the statute, the subject matter, the object to be accomplished, the purpose to be served, the remedy provided, the legislative history, and other appropriate means that shed light on the subject. Stephens v. Arkansas Sch. for the Blind, 341 Ark. 939, 20 S.W.3d 397 (2000).

Since 1993, we have twice been called upon to construe the statutory language found in sections 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) and 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii). See White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., supra, and Olsten Kimberly Quality Care, supra. We have held that an employee is performing "employment services" when he or she "is doing something that is generally required by his or her employer...." White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 339 Ark. at 478, 6 S.W.3d at 100. We use the same test to determine whether an employee was performing "employment services" as we do when determining whether an employee was acting within "the course of employment." White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., supra; Olsten Kimberly, supra. The test is whether the injury occurred "within the time and space boundaries of the employment, when the employee [was] carrying out the employer's purpose or advancing the employer's interest directly or indirectly." White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 339 Ark. at 478, 6 S.W.3d at 100 and Olsten Kimberly, supra.

It is well-settled that any interpretation of a statute by this court subsequently becomes a part of the statute itself. Night Clubs, Inc. v. Fort Smith Planning Comm'n, 336 Ark. 130, 984 S.W.2d 418 (1999); Burns v. Burns, 312 Ark. 61, 847 S.W.2d 23 (1993). The General Assembly is presumed to be familiar with this court's interpretations of its statutes, and if it disagrees with those interpretations, it can amend the statutes. Without such amendments, however, our interpretations of the statutes remain the law. Lawhon Farm Servs. v. Brown, supra.; Sawyer v. State, 327 Ark. 421, 938 S.W.2d 843 (1997). Although aware of our interpretation of the term "employment services" in White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Olsten Kimberly, the General Assembly has not changed section 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) or section 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii), other than to renumber those sections. See 2001 Ark. Acts 1757 and 1999 Ark. Acts 20. Accordingly, this court's interpretation of the pertinent statutory language remains the law.

Appellant would have this Court either reaffirm the personal-comfort doctrine² or hold that a restroom break is a necessary function and directly or indirectly advances the interests of the employer. Conversely, the appellees contend that an employee is not performing employment services during a restroom break, or any personal break, because the...