O'Neil v. Department of Transp.

• Citation: 10 Fla. L. Weekly 157,468 So.2d 904
• Decision Date: 07 March 1985
• Docket Number: No. 64809,64809
• Parties: 10 Fla. L. Weekly 157 Mary Ellen O'NEIL, Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION and Crawford & Company, Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 904

468 So.2d 904

10 Fla. L. Weekly 157

Mary Ellen O'NEIL, Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION and Crawford & Company, Respondents.

No. 64809.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 7, 1985.

Rehearing Denied June 4, 1985.

L. Barry Keyfetz of Keyfetz, Poses & Halpern, Miami, for petitioner.

Kay & Silber, P.A., and Douglas J. Glaid of Glaid & DiMauro, Fort Lauderdale, for respondents.

ALDERMAN, Justice.

Mary O'Neil seeks review of the decision from the District Court of Appeal, First District, in O'Neil v. Department of Transportation, 442 So.2d 961, 963 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), which certified the following question to be of great public importance:

Does Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d., Florida Statutes (1979), violate the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution because it conflicts with the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621, et seq. (1976)?

We answer the certified question in the negative and approve the decision of the district court.

O'Neil filed a workers' compensation claim for permanent total disability benefits or, in the alternative, for wage loss benefits due to work related injuries occurring on May 17, 1980. The deputy commissioner denied her request for permanent total disability benefits finding no competent or substantial evidence of the claimant's inability to return to work. The commissioner also found that section 440.15 precludes the recovery of wage loss benefits when the claimant is over the age of 65 and is receiving social security benefits. Therefore, he found that O'Neil's right to such benefits terminated on August 4, 1980, when O'Neil attained the age of 65 and was eligible to receive social security benefits.

On appeal, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the commissioner's order, citing its earlier decision in Sasso v. Ram Property Management, 431 So.2d 204 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). The district court's decision in Sasso was subsequently approved by this Court in Sasso v. Ram Property Management, 452 So.2d 932, 934 (Fla.), appeal dismissed, 469 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 498, 83 L.Ed.2d 391 (1984). In that case, we held that section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. did not deny access to the courts or unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of age.

On rehearing, the First District, in the present case, also held that section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. was not unconstitutional under the supremacy clause as violative of 29 U.S.C. § 623, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This Act provides in pertinent part:

(a) It shall be unlawful for an employer--

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age; ... (Emphasis supplied.)

The district court reasoned that the provisions of Florida's Workers' Compensation Law do not constitute "compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment" within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 623. We agree.

We find no merit in any of the other arguments raised by O'Neil.

Accordingly, the decision of the district court is approved.

It is so ordered.

BOYD, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur.

SHAW, J., dissents with an opinion.

ADKINS, J., dissents.

SHAW, Justice, dissenting.

The majority approves the district court's conclusion that workers' compensation benefits do not constitute compensation, terms, and conditions, or privileges of employment within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 623 (1976), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). I disagree for the reasons set forth below.

The general purpose of workers' compensation is to compensate workers for work-related injuries and prevent their dependents, in the event of death, from becoming public burdens. Instead of placing the burden of compensating the injured employee directly on the worker, the legal system, or the public, the burden is placed on employers and passed on to the consumers of their products or services. For the purposes of chapter 440, Florida Statutes (1979), the state and its political subdivisions, in their capacity as employers, are treated no differently than private employers, except that they are deemed to be self-insurers unless they elect to obtain private insurance. See §§ 440.02(4) and 440.38(6), Fla.Stat. (1979). The system is intended to be self-executing with the employer or insurance carrier paying benefits without recourse to legal or administrative proceedings. Even when it is necessary to resort to such proceedings in order to obtain benefits, with exceptions that are not pertinent here, the benefits are not paid by the state unless a government body is the self-insured employer. See § 440.38(1). Wage loss benefits, which are at issue here, are paid solely and directly by the employer/insurance carrier to the employee. See §§ 440.15(3)(b) and 440.20(4). Even in those instances where the state Division of Workers' Compensation, as a non-employer, furnishes benefits, the costs of the benefits and the administration of the system are assessed against self-insured employers and insurance carriers. Such payments by the division are made from separately administered trust funds. See §§ 440.15(1)(e), 440.49(2)(h), 440.50, 440.51, Fla.Stat. (1979); Fla.Admin.Code Ch. 38F-4.

Florida's Workers' Compensation Act mandates and enforces a contractual relationship between employer and employee whereby the employer provides no-fault compensation for work related injuries and the employee surrenders the right to bring common law and statutory causes of action against the employer for such injuries. This approach is consistent with what this Court has previously described as the fundamental purpose of workers' compensation: "to relieve society of the burden of caring for an injured employee by placing the burden on the industry involved." Sullivan v. Mayo, 121 So.2d 424, 430 (Fla.1960). See generally 35 Fla.Jur. Workmen's Compensation §§ 1-25 (1961). With this background and understanding of the system in mind, it is a misnomer to characterize workers' compensation benefits as "government-provided" because, in sum, employers bear the entire cost of the system and provide all of the benefits. The state simply spells out the rules under which employers and employees interface.

In support of its holding, the district court found it

significant that the Department of Labor's interpretation of this federal statute, contained in 29 CFR § 860.1, et seq. (1983), implicitly supports appellee's argument that the prohibitions of 29 U.S.C. § 623(a) are limited to employment practices within the control of employers and do not encompass governmental action such as workers' compensation laws. 29 CFR 860.120(e) addresses the relationship of employer-provided benefits and government-provided benefits.3 This subsection explicitly recognizes that the availability of government benefits, e.g., Medicare, may be based on age. We see little distinction, for purposes of the ADEA, between governmental enactments which provide for benefits to be paid ... by others.

O'Neil v. Department of Transportation, 442 So.2d 961, 962 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (footnote in original) (emphasis supplied). Contrary to the district court and majority view, it is clear to me that the import of 29 C.F.R. 860.120(e) is an attempt on the part of the federal government to allow employer-provided benefits to be offset by government benefits (Medicare, social security) so long as the total benefits are not reduced to the point where the older employee is entitled to lesser benefits than a similarly situated younger employee.

In Sasso v. Ram Property Management, 452 So.2d 932 (Fla.), appeal dismissed, 469 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 498, 83 L.Ed.2d 391 (1984), we approved the district court's decision in Sasso v. Ram Property Management, 431 So.2d 204 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), which held that section 440.15(3)(b)3.d., Florida Statutes (1979), did not deny access to the courts or unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of age. A reading of the district court decision in Sasso is instructive. First, the claimant in Sasso was seventy-eight years of age and fell outside the protection of the ADEA. His reliance was upon general constitutional principles rather than the ADEA shelter. The court was careful to note that claimants who are covered by ADEA "may have a remedy under the federal act to contest conflicting state statutes allegedly disadvantaging them." Sasso, 431 So.2d at 224. Second, the district court in Sasso found that age was not a constitutionally suspect or quasi-suspect class and applied the rational basis test to the statute. In so doing, the court identified three legislative objectives which met the...