Matthews v. Falvey Linen Supply, Inc.
| Citation | 110 R.I. 558,294 A.2d 398 |
| Decision Date | 28 August 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 1594-A,1594-A |
| Parties | Dolores Ann MATTHEWS v. FALVEY LINEN SUPPLY, INC. ppeal. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island |
This is an employee's original petition for compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act. The petition was heard by a trial commissioner, who thereafter, on April 7, 1971, entered a decree in which he found that the petitioner had sustained third-degree burns on her left arm while working as a shirtpresser in a laundry; that the injury was sustained in the course of her employment, connected therewith, and referable thereto; and that by reason of such injury the petitioner was totally incapacitated for work for the period beginning May 11, 1970, and ending on December 12, 1970. The trial commissioner also found that the '(p)etitioner's left arm has been rendered permanently disfigured as a result of the effects of such third degree burns * * *' and awarded compensation for a period not to exceed 100 weeks.
The decree of the trial commissioner was appealed to the full commission, and thereafter, on October 21, 1971, the full commission entered a decree in which it sustained the decision of the trial commissioner, except for the order therein setting the weekly rate to be paid petitioner for disfigurement, holding that the trial commissioner had miscalculated the compensation due for disfigurement and for treble compensation. The decree of the full commission corrected this miscalculation but otherwise sustained the findings of the trial commissioner, particularly as to the incapacity of petitioner and her disfigurement. From that decree the employer is prosecuting an appeal to this court.
The respondent argues primarily that the statute, in providing for the payment of compensation for permanent disfigurement, G.L.1956 (1968 Reenactment) § 28-33-19, deprives an employer of property without due process of law as provided by the fourteenth amendment. However, we are persuaded that the real thrust of respondent's argument is that the Legislature cannot in a valid exercise of the police power provide for the payment of compensation for disfigurement without requiring that the disfigurement adversely affect the earning capacity of the injured employee. This conviction gives significance to the fact that the Legislature, by amending § 28-33-19(n)(2), specifically provided for the payment of compensation for disfigurement even though the disfigurement had not been shown to have impaired the earning capacity of the injured employee.
The statute prior to its amendment by P.L.1969, chap. 144, sec. 1, provided that such compensation for disfigurement could be awarded only where it was shown that the disfigurement had diminished the earning capacity of the employee. The statute then read: 'For permanent disfigurement about the face, head, neck, hand or arm which diminishes earning capacity or occasions loss of wage, the number of weeks, not to exceed three hundred (300) weeks, which according to the determination of the workmen's compensation commission, is a proper and equitable compensation.' (emphasis ours) In other words, by striking from the statute the words underlined above, the Legislature clearly expressed an intent that such compensation could be had without showing that the disfigurement had impaired the earning capacity.
The question, then, with which we are confronted is whether the Legislature may, in a reasonable exercise of the police power, provide for the payment of compensation for permanent disfigurement that does not impair the earning capacity of the injured employee. We cannot agree that providing compensation for disfigurement without requiring a showing of an impairment of the employee's earning capacity is an arbitrary, oppressive, and unreasonable exercise of the police power.
This contention was presented to the Supreme Court of the United States over a half-century ago in New York Central R.R. v. Bianc, 250 U.S. 596, 40 S.Ct. 44, 63 L.Ed. 1161 (1919), and the Court concluded that there was no constitutional bar to such action by a state Legislature. The Court said at 602-603, 40 S.Ct. at 46, 63 L.Ed. at 1164:
While there appears to be a paucity of decisions on the precise issue raised by repondent here, two recent cases very clearly indicate that the courts accept the view that the Legislature has a wide discretion in exercising the police power and in the enactment of statutes providing for compensation for industrial injuries. See R. C. Mahon Co. v. Industrial Comm'n, 45 Ill.2d 480, 259 N.E.2d 274 (1970); Gilbert v. Keller, 8 Ohio Misc. 31, 218 N.E.2d 646 (1966).
Our attention has not been directed to, nor have we in our research found, any decision that is contrary to the rule laid down in Bianc. Therefore, it is our conclusion that providing for the payment of compensation for disfigurement without requiring a showing that the disfigurement resulted in an impairment of the earning capacity of the injured employee constitutes a valid exercise of the police power by a state Legislature. From what decisional law is available, it would appear that the controlling issue in these cases is whether, in enacting or amending Workmen's Compensation legislation, the Legislature has disclosed therein an intent that compensation would be payable for permanent disfigurement without the necessity for an employee to prove that the disfigurement impairs his earning...
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