Moya v. City of Albuquerque

• Decision Date: 16 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26,382.,26,382.
• Parties: Christopher R. MOYA, Worker-Appellant, v. CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, Employer-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

159 P.3d 266

2007 NMCA 057

Christopher R. MOYA, Worker-Appellant, v. CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, Employer-Appellee.

No. 26,382.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

March 16, 2007.

Certiorari Granted, No. 30,343, May 11, 2007.

Gerald A. Hanrahan, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellant.

Butt Thornton & Baehr PC, Carlos G. Martinez, Emily A. Franke, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

CASTILLO, Judge.

{1} This workers' compensation appeal provides us with another opportunity to address an employer's right to an offset when the injured employee gets a job with a new employer. The Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) concluded that under NMSA 1978, § 52-1-47.1(A) (1990), the City of Albuquerque (Employer) was entitled to an offset. We reverse. We conclude that under the law in existence at the time Worker was injured, Employer was not entitled to an offset for wages provided by another employer. We also address the WCJ's finding that Worker's job as a correctional officer was "medium" work, rather than "heavy" work. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the WCJ's finding, and we affirm this determination.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Worker was employed as a correctional officer at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. He was injured on February 25, 2004. Worker testified that three inmates, who he understood had started a riot at another correctional facility, were being transferred to the detention center. With full knowledge by supervisors, a "welcoming party" had been planned to let the troublesome inmates know that such behavior would not be tolerated. Worker testified that the first inmate was brutally beaten by as many as fifteen or twenty correctional officers. Worker said he objected but was told by a superior officer to "shut the hell up." While Worker was escorting a beaten inmate out of the area, Worker was injured when he was struck by a fellow officer in the neck and shoulder region. Worker's claim was that he was accidentally struck when the officer was trying to strike the inmate whom Worker was escorting.

{3} Following the incident, there was an internal affairs investigation. Worker said he was pressured by superior officers to alter his testimony about the beatings, but he said he testified truthfully about the beatings in the internal affairs investigation. Employer fired him on March 12, 2004. The WCJ found that Worker's termination was "without good cause." Worker was unemployed until January 1, 2005, when he obtained employment with Cornell Corrections. The WCJ allowed Employer an offset for wages Worker received from his subsequent employer, and Worker appeals that decision.

{4} In this opinion, we distinguish between an employer that employs a worker at the time of an injury (at-injury employer) and an employer that employs a worker after the injury (subsequent employer). Employer here is an at-injury employer.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

{5} We review factual findings under a whole record standard of review. See Tom Growney Equip. Co. v. Jouett, 2005-NMSC-015, ¶ 13, 137 N.M. 497, 113 P.3d 320. "Under that standard, we must consider all evidence bearing on the findings, favorable or unfavorable, to determine if there is substantial evidence to support the result." Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). However, the interpretation of Section 52-1-47.1 is a legal issue, which we review de novo. See Grubelnik v. Four-Four, Inc., 2001-NMCA-056, ¶ 9, 130 N.M. 633, 29 P.3d 533.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Employer's Right to an Offset Under Section 52-1-47.1

{6} We previously addressed an employer's right to an offset in Grubelnik, a case decided under NMSA 1978, § 52-1-25.1 (1990). See Grubelnik, 2001-NMCA-056 ¶¶ 16-24, 130 N.M. 633, 29 P.3d 533. In Grubelnik, we held that an employer that did not make an offer of employment to an injured worker was not entitled to an offset when the worker got another job. See id. Here, Employer persuaded the WCJ that another workers' compensation statute, Section 52-1-47.1, entitled Employer to an offset.

{7} Section 52-1-47.1(A) provides the following:

Unless otherwise contracted for by the worker and employer, workers' compensation benefits shall be limited so that no worker receives more in total payments, including wages and benefits from his employer, by not working than by continuing to work. Compensation benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act [Chapter 52, Article 1 NMSA 1978] shall accordingly be reduced, if necessary, to account for any wages and employer-financed disability benefits a worker receives after the time of injury. For the purposes of this section, total payments shall be determined on an after-tax basis. This section does not apply to social security payments, employee-financed disability benefits, benefits or payments a worker received from a prior employer, payments for medical or related expenses or general retirement payments, except it does apply to disability retirement benefits.

{8} Employer persuaded the WCJ that the statute meant that a worker could not be better off financially by working than he was before he was injured. Employer added the worker's compensation benefits it was providing to the wages Worker was receiving at his new job, concluded that he was better off, and asserted that a reduction in benefits was warranted. Under this interpretation of the statute, the term "employer" is not limited to an at-injury employer but includes a subsequent employer. An employer receives credit not only for any wages and benefits it finances or provides but also for any wages paid by anyone else.

{9} Our task is to determine legislative intent. See Gurule v. Dicaperl Minerals Corp., 2006-NMCA-054, ¶ 7, 139 N.M. 521, 134 P.3d 808. Legislative history provides a valuable clue about the meaning and purpose of Section 52-1-47.1. Worker argues, and Employer does not dispute, that Section 52-1-47.1 was enacted as a legislative response to Montney v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 108 N.M. 326, 329-30, 772 P.2d 360, 363-64 (Ct.App. 1989). Montney, decided in 1989, held that an employer was not entitled to an offset for Public Employees Retirement Act (PERA) disability benefits because nothing in the Workers' Compensation Act (Act) provided for such offset. See id. In the following year, 1990, the legislature enacted Section 52-1-47.1, which supports Worker's argument that the section was enacted in response to Montney. Consequently, it appears the statute's purpose was to give employers that have financed disability benefits credit for the benefits they have provided or financed.

{10} In addition to considering the statute's purpose, we consider the plain language of the statute to determine legislative intent. See Gurule, 2006-NMCA-054, ¶ 7, 139 N.M. 521, 134 P.3d 808. The plain language of the statute is consistent with the statute's purpose. The first sentence of the statute states that benefits should be limited so that "no worker receives more in total payments, including wages and benefits from his employer, by not working than by continuing to work." Section 52-1-47.1(A). This language obviously addresses the problem in Montney, where the worker received more by not working than by working because he received PERA disability benefits in addition to workers' compensation benefits.

{11} The following sentence in the statute is consistent with the first sentence. It gives employers who provide "wages and employer-financed disability benefits" an offset. Section 52-1-47.1(A). If the term "employer" is interpreted to mean the at-injury employer, the employer that provides benefits to the employee gets credit for those benefits. If the employer did not get credit for the extra benefits the employer provided, then an employee would receive a windfall, as did the worker in Montney. See 108 N.M. at 330, 772 P.2d at 364. The worker would have no incentive to return to work, since he or she would be better off not working. It is understandable that the legislature would act to prohibit that result. See Gurule, 2006-NMCA-054, ¶ 7, 139 N.M. 521, 134 P.3d 808 (stating that the Act encourages workers to return to work with minimal reliance on compensation awards).

{12} The remainder of Section 52-1-47.1 is also consistent with a conclusion that an at-injury employer gets credit only for wages and benefits it provides or finances. The section lists exclusions, for which the employer is not entitled to a reduction. The listed exclusions are "social security payments, employee-financed disability benefits, benefits or payments a worker received from a prior employer, payments for medical or related expenses or general retirement payments." Section 52-1-47.1(A). All of these refer to payments from sources other than the at-injury employer: payments from the government, payments from plans employees have obtained themselves, or payments from prior employers. The statute's exclusion of payments from independent sources, i.e., sources other than the at-injury employer, is consistent with the idea that an employer gets credit only for wages and benefits provided by the at-injury employer.

{13} We strive to harmonize the statutory language to achieve the overall legislative purpose. See Eldridge v. Circle K Corp., 1997-NMCA-022, ¶ 29, 123 N.M. 145, 934 P.2d 1074. An interpretation giving an employer credit only for wages and benefits it alone has provided is in harmony with all of the language of the statute and makes the statute internally consistent. Such an interpretation is consistent with the change the legislature sought to make after Montney. This interpretation is also consistent with the legislature's expressed intent that an employer that provides wages and benefits receives an offset for those benefits so that a worker will not receive "more in total payments, including wages and benefits from his employer, by not working than by continuing to work." Section 52-1-47.1(A).

{14} Employer raises a number of...