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General Chemical Corp. v. Prasad8/23/2000
W.R.A.P. 12.09(b) Certification from the District Court of Sweetwater County The Honorable Jere Ryckman, Judge
MACY, J., DISSENTS WITHOUT WRITTEN OPINION.
GOLDEN, Justice.
This appeal presents the issue whether the 1991 workers' compensation statutes prohibit awarding extended benefits to a permanently disabled employee with income greater than the permissible extended benefits award. Following a hearing, Appellee Harry Prasad was awarded extended benefits in the amount of $1,077.00 per month to supplement his social security disability and pension income of $1,700.56 per month. His former employer, Appellant General Chemical Corporation, appealed, and the district court certified the case to this Court pursuant to W.R.A.P. 12.09.
We affirm the hearing examiner's order.
ISSUES
General Chemical presents this statement of the issues for our review:
A. Was the hearing examiner's award of extended benefits to the Appellee, giving Appellee a yearly income of $33,330.72, arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with the law?
B. Did the hearing examiner err in awarding "extended benefits" (which this Court has stated are intended as a subsistence-level benefit) so that Appellee could maintain his lifestyle of having maid service; paying $311.00 per month for a new car; paying $987.00 a month for a $126,000.00 house; paying $600.00 a month for food (for one person); and incurring substantial credit card debt?
C. Did the hearing examiner err by awarding extended benefits to Appellee when the Appellee clearly had income from other sources that was well in excess of any governmentally established "subsistence level" for a single person with no dependents?
Prasad presents these issues for review:
A. Does the employer have standing to pursue an appeal of the Office of Administrative Hearings award of permanent total disability extended benefits?
B. Was the Office of Administrative Hearings order awarding permanent total disability extended benefits to the Claimant arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law?
FACTS
Prasad worked as an underground miner for General Chemical from 1975 until October 3, 1989, when he suffered a work-related closed head injury. He was awarded permanent total disability benefits on November 2, 1992, that paid out in September of 1997. Prasad applied for and received permanent total disability extended benefits from September 1997 through September 1998 after contested case proceedings. He reapplied for extended benefits on September 16, 1998, and on September 24, 1998, the Division issued a final determination denying his application for the reason that his earned income from social security disability and a retirement pension exceeded the maximum extended benefit amount of $1,118.06.
Prasad objected, and a hearing was held by the Office of Administrative Hearings on January 15, 1999. The hearing examiner found that Prasad was sixty-five years old, still suffering the effects of his closed head injury, and he remained disabled and his earning capacity totally impaired. The hearing examiner found that Prasad had been borrowing money from credit cards to meet his living expenses since his extended permanent total disability benefits were paid out. The living expenses were found not to be lavish or extravagant and Prasad's other income was insufficient to meet subsistence expenses that included reliable transportation, maintaining a home, clothing, and basic expenses.
Prasad was awarded extended benefits
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