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Longtin v. City of Lewiston4/30/1998
Reporter of Decisions
Argued: February 4, 1998
Lucien Longtin appeals from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board granting his employer's petition for review and reducing his partial benefits based on his refusal of available work, pursuant to 39 M.R.S.A. Section 55-B (Supp. 1990) (effective for injuries occurring after Sept. 30, 1989 and before Oct. 17, 1991), repealed and replaced by P.L. 1991, ch. 615, Section D-7. Longtin contends that because his acceptance of the reinstatement offer would have resulted in a reduction of his retirement benefits upon early retirement, the offer was not "available" for purposes of former section 55-B. We disagree and affirm the decision of the Board.
Longtin suffered a work-related injury on March 26, 1990, while employed by the Lewiston Fire Department. He continued to work as a firefighter over the next three years, but by 1993 was no longer physically able to perform many aspects of the job. He applied for disability retirement from the Fire Department and in November of 1993, after nineteen years as a firefighter, began receiving disability pension benefits.
Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between the City and its firefighters, Longtin would have been eligible for early retirement at age forty-eight at one-half his average final compensation after twenty-four years of service. Any time during which Longtin receives disability benefits is counted as "time in" for purposes of calculating those years of service. Therefore, if he continues to receive those benefits during the next approximately five years, he will be eligible for early retirement. According to the terms of his disability contract, however, Longtin may not receive disability benefits if he earns more than $30,500 in a year, inclusive of the disability benefits totalling roughly $19,750. Therefore, to preserve his entitlement to maximum retirement benefits at early retirement, Longtin contends that he cannot earn more than $10,000 through employment for the next five years. Since he began receiving disability benefits, Longtin has worked part-time, but never earned more than that $10,000 "ceiling."
In September 1994, Longtin filed a petition for reinstatement pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 218 (Supp. 1997). In response, the Fire Department offered him a full-time position as a fire inspector paying close to his pre-injury wage. The offered position would have paid approximately $23,000 annually. Thus, acceptance of the position would have disqualified Longtin for his disability benefits. The parties agree that time spent as a fire inspector could not be included as years of service for the twenty-four-year firefighter special early retirement.
Longtin therefore refused the fire inspector position, and the City filed a petition for forfeiture pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 218(5) along with a petition for review pursuant to 39 M.R.S.A. Section 55-B (Supp. 1990). See P.L. 1989, ch. 575 (effective for injuries occurring after Sept. 30, 1989 and before Oct. 17, 1991), repealed and replaced by P.L. 1991, ch. 615, Section D-7. The Board granted the employer's petition for review, but concluded that subsection 218(5) did not apply because Longtin had withdrawn his petition for reinstatement prior to the hearing.
On the employee's petition for review, the Board concluded that Longtin's current partial earnings were prima facie evidence of his work- capacity, but that the employer had rebutted the presumption by providing an opportunity for Longtin to earn close to his pre-injury wage as a fire inspector. See Fecteau v. Rich Vale Constr., Inc., 349 A.2d 162, 166 (Me. 1975). The Board made th
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