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Thomas v. Color Country Management1/30/2004
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals
In this case, we consider whether an order from an administrative law judge to an employer to initiate subsistence payments for an injured employee is enforceable before the administrative decision-making process has reached its end. Nellie Thomas, an employee of Color Country Management ("Color Country"), was injured in the course of her employment, and an administrative law judge for the Utah Labor Commission ("Commission") made an initial finding that she qualified for permanent total disability compensation. When Color Country refused to comply with the administrative law judge's accompanying order to initiate temporary subsistence payments, Thomas sought to enforce the order by obtaining an abstract of her award from the administrative law judge and filing it in the district court pursuant to section 34A-2-212 of the Utah Labor Code. The enforcement of the abstract was stayed by the district court while Color Country challenged the issuance of the abstract first before the administrative law judge, who held that he had properly issued the abstract, and later before the Commission's Appeals Board ("Appeals Board"), which did not address the challenge because Color Country had already appealed to the court of appeals. The court of appeals held that the order to initiate subsistence payments was not a "final order" and that, consequently, the abstract of Thomas's award was improperly issued by the administrative law judge. Because the plain language of section 34A-2-413 provides that the initial finding of permanent total disability, upon which the subsistence payments in this case were predicated, is not final, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
On October 15, 1994, in the course of her employment at Sizzler Restaurant, Nellie Thomas slipped in a puddle of greasy water and fell, breaking her left arm and injuring her shoulder. Over the next three years, Thomas underwent four separate surgeries but never fully recovered the use of her arm. On May 15, 1997, Thomas filed an application for a hearing with the Commission, claiming entitlement to permanent total disability benefits under the Utah Workers' Compensation Act. See Utah Code Ann. ยงยง 34A-2-101 to -803 (2001). An administrative law judge heard her case on January 6, 1998. On January 8, 1998, the administrative law judge determined that Thomas was temporarily totally disabled and ordered that the issue of permanent total disability be held in reserve until her medical condition stabilized.
In the following months, Thomas underwent an examination by a doctor, who found that she had reached medical stability and would not recover any further use of her arm. Color Country then requested that the administrative law judge reconsider the issue of permanent total disability, and on August 11, 1998, the judge determined that, based on her recent medical evaluations, Thomas qualified for increased disability compensation. The judge tentatively found that she was permanently totally disabled and ordered that Color Country initiate permanent total disability subsistence payments to provide for Thomas during the interim period pending a final finding of permanent total disability. Under the Workers' Compensation Act, a final finding could not be made until Color Country had the opportunity to submit a reemployment plan for the judge's evaluation.
Color Country prepared and submitted a reemployment plan but refused to make the ordered subsistence payments. On May 1, 2000, Thomas requested that the administrative law judge issue an abstract of her award that she could file with the district court in order to effect enforcement of the subsistence payments. A week later, Colo
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