Hershey Chocolate Co. v. Com.
| Decision Date | 19 September 1996 |
| Parties | HERSHEY CHOCOLATE CO., Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board and Tania L. Lasher, Appellees. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Martin Singer, Pittsburgh, for appellee Tania L. Lasher.
Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE and NIGRO, JJ.
Hershey Chocolate Company (Hershey) appeals from the order of the Commonwealth Court affirming the award of workers' compensation benefits to Tania Lasher for a psychic injury claimed to have been caused by her employment as a district manager. The issue presented in this appeal is whether the evidence was sufficient to prove that the psychic injury resulted from abnormal working conditions. We hold that the Commonwealth Court erred in finding that Lasher suffered psychic injury as a result of abnormal working conditions and reverse.
Lasher began her employment with Hershey on May 5, 1979, in the position of sales representative for an area including Johnstown, Somerset, and Indiana. In July 1980, Lasher became a district account supervisor with responsibility for direct buying customers and a greater dollar volume in Altoona, State College, Huntingdon, and DuBois. Her position involved contact of key accounts in that area and expanded her responsibilities to include the hiring, training, and supervision of a part-time sales representative who called on the convenience store trade.
In 1984, Lasher was promoted to district manager for the Pittsburgh district. The district extended south to Wheeling, West Virginia and west to Steubenville, Ohio. She was responsible for the district's annual gross sales of $20,000,000. Sales were made to supermarkets, drugstores, candy and tobacco distributors, and mass merchandisers.
As Pittsburgh district manager, Lasher supervised five full-time employees, including an individual who filled her previous position as the district account supervisor, and four sales representatives. In addition, five part-time employees worked under her. Lasher assumed responsibility for the hiring and training of those employees. She handled two accounts personally.
In 1987, Hershey restructured several districts. 1 Restructuring took place in Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh in the mideast division, and outside the division in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Washington. This resulted in a merger of the Pittsburgh and Parkersburg districts.
Lasher was interested in the position of district manager for the larger district, which was called the Pittsburgh district after the merger. She was promoted to that position in July 1987. The promotion moved her from a grade 26 to a grade 28, resulting in a 9.2 percent increase in her base salary. 2 The sales territory expanded south to Elkins, West Virginia and east to State College, Pennsylvania. The sales volume of the new district was $31,500,000, making it one of the top ten districts in the country.
After the merger, Hershey provided Lasher with additional personnel. Lasher was given the assistance of Joseph Noca, a key accounts manager, and a part-time secretary. 3 Lasher's staff consisted of the key account manager, a district account supervisor, seven sales representatives, and six part-time retail merchandisers. In the chain of command, the district account supervisor was directly responsible for the six part-time employees. Lasher was personally responsible for only one account.
During the same period of time that Lasher excelled in her professional life, she faced numerous personal difficulties. Six months before her promotion, Lasher sought medical attention for fatigue and loss of energy. Lasher, who had married for the third time in 1984, lived apart from her husband during the work week. She resided in Pittsburgh while her husband was employed and lived in Altoona. The couple saw each other only on weekends.
Lasher experienced problems with her son from her first marriage which were compounded when he dropped out of college during the 1986-1987 school term. Illness plagued both her father and father-in-law. Her father-in-law died in February 1987. Lasher's father, described as an unpleasant alcoholic, was hospitalized that year for cirrhosis and cancer. His condition was terminal. Although Lasher had never had a close relationship with her father, she responded dutifully to his growing dependence upon her.
In November 1987, Lasher became concerned about disruptions in her sleeping patterns and worried about customers. Her personal difficulties did not abate, indeed she suffered the loss of a friend who died of cancer in January 1988. In March 1988, Lasher again returned to her personal physician with complaints that she was fatigued. The physician encouraged her to lose weight and exercise.
Although her work performance continued to receive an above average appraisal, Lasher became apprehensive about her job. On June 6, 1988, Lasher suffered from stomach pains and could not stop crying. She was examined by her gynecologist who then referred her to a medical practice where she began treatment with a psychiatrist for depression. Lasher never returned to work.
On October 21, 1988, Lasher filed a claim petition for workers' compensation benefits alleging that she suffered from a severe emotional disorder due to excess pressure and excessive work load changes in her job. After evidentiary hearings, the referee determined that Lasher had sustained her burden of proof that she became disabled on June 6, 1988, due to depression caused by a change in her working conditions and awarded benefits. 4 Notably, the referee did not make any reference to abnormal working conditions in either her findings of facts or conclusions of law.
The Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Board) affirmed the referee's decision. The Board observed that the referee did not use the term "abnormal" in her decision, but inferred that the referee's finding that Lasher was subjected to an excessive work load meant that abnormal working conditions caused her depression. The Board dismissed Hershey's appeal. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board's order, with Judge Doyle dissenting. We granted Hershey's petition for allowance of appeal.
The scope of appellate review is limited in workers' compensation proceedings to a determination of whether constitutional rights have been violated, an error of law has been committed, or any findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Volterano v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 536 Pa. 335, 639 A.2d 453 (1994). Hershey asserts that the Commonwealth Court erred in holding that Lasher suffered a psychic injury as a result of abnormal working conditions. Hershey argues that Lasher failed to demonstrate through objective evidence that her working conditions were different or more stressful than those of other sales executives in either larger or smaller sales districts within its organization.
To recover workers' compensation benefits for a psychic injury, a claimant must prove by objective evidence that he has suffered a psychic injury and that such injury is other than a subjective reaction to normal working conditions. Martin v. Ketchum, Inc., 523 Pa. 509, 568 A.2d 159 (1990).
" '[E]ven if a claimant adequately identifies actual (not merely perceived or imagined) employment events which have precipitated psychiatric injury, the claimant must still prove the events to be abnormal before he can recover.' " Wilson v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Aluminum Company of America), 542 Pa. 614, 669 A.2d 338 (1996), quoting Antus v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 155 Pa.Cmwlth. 576, 586, 625 A.2d 760, 766 (1993), aff'd. per curiam, 536 Pa. 267, 639 A.2d 20 (1994).
Hershey does not dispute that the first part of the Martin test was met in this case. The issue is whether there was sufficient evidence to prove that the psychic injury suffered by Lasher was caused by abnormal working conditions.
"[P]sychic injury cases are highly fact-sensitive and for actual work conditions to be considered abnormal, they must be considered in the context of the specific employment." Id., 542 Pa. at 624, 669 A.2d at 343 (citation omitted). Appellate review of the referee's findings of fact is limited to a determination of whether the findings are supported by the evidence as a whole. Where no additional testimony is taken before the Board, the findings will be overturned only if arbitrary and capricious. Whether the findings of fact support a conclusion that the claimant has been exposed to abnormal working conditions is a question of law, however, that is fully reviewable on appeal. Id., 542 Pa. at 624, 669 A.2d at 343.
During the hearings before the referee, Lasher described her nine year employment history with Hershey. Her account details a successful career with the company where she began working as a sales representative and received several promotions over a period of time. Her responsibilities changed with each successive position. The first promotion to district account supervisor occurred approximately one year after she was hired. She became responsible for key accounts and a larger dollar volume in the market for direct buying customers.
Her next promotion to district manager for Pittsburgh came in 1984. As district manager, Lasher was responsible for a sales volume of $20,000,000 and she supervised a sales force consisting of five full-time and four part-time employees. In 1985, a full-time salesperson was added to her team. Lasher had complete responsibility for interviewing, hiring, and training personnel for the Pittsburgh district. After an initial twelve week training period, she worked with the sales representatives in the field one or two days in each cycle of twenty business days. Her supervisory duties were only a part of her ...
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