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Green v. Town of Brookline10/30/2001
Suffolk.
April 17, 2001.
Workers' Compensation Act, Decision of Industrial Accident Reviewing Board. Civil Service, Decision of Civil Service Commission. Administrative Law, Failure to raise issue before agency, Preclusive effect of decision. Collateral Estoppel.
Appeal from a decision of the Industrial Accident Reviewing Board.
The town of Brookline (town) appeals from a decision of the reviewing board (board) of the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) awarding worker's compensation benefits for emotional distress to the town's former employee, Barbara F. Green. The central issue is whether the administrative judge for the DIA erred by failing to give preclusive effect to issues decided by a hearing officer for the Civil Service Commission (commission) in an earlier proceeding in which Green had appealed her discharge.
We agree with the town that the administrative judge erred as matter of law in failing to give preclusive effect to the issues litigated before the commission. Errors of law prevent our deferral to the reviewing board; therefore we must vacate the decision of the DIA, and remand the matter to the DIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. See G. L. c. 152, á12(2); G. L. c. 30A, 14; Van Munching Co. v. Alcoholic Bevs. Control Commn., 41 Mass. App. Ct. 308, 309-310 (1996); Patterson v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 48 Mass. App. Ct. 586, 587 n.5 (2000).
Background.
In 1978, the town hired Green as a clerk-typist in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. She worked without incident and with favorable employment reviews until the director of the department, who was also her supervisor, retired in January, 1984. From 1984 until her termination in 1987, Green's employment was marked by a series of problems and disciplinary actions.
Green appealed her discharge to the commission pursuant to G. L. c. 31, 43. A hearing officer ruled that the town had demonstrated just cause to discipline Green and then terminate her employment. The commission adopted the findings of fact in the hearing officer's report and affirmed the town's action. On November 23, 1988, after procedural meanderings not relevant here, Green filed a claim for benefits under the workers' compensation statute (G. L. c. 152, á1 et seq.), alleging work-related emotional and mental disability caused by the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The town denied the claim. After a conference, an administrative judge also denied her claim. Green appealed the decision, and a de novo hearing was conducted by a different administrative judge because the first administrative judge was no longer at the DIA. The administrative judge declined to give preclusive effect to any issues decided by the commission and, in a decision and order filed on April 8, 1996, ruled that "the employee developed a mental disability as a result of a series of events at work . . . that were not the result of any bona fide personnel decision." The administrative judge found that Green had been temporarily totally disabled from the date of her discharge, January 27, 1987, through December 16, 1991, determined that she was eligible to receive benefits under the Act, and awarded her interest and expenses. The DIA reviewing board affirmed the administrative judge's decision in favor of Green.
1. Issue preclusion (collateral estoppel).
In the proceeding before the DIA, the town sought to preclude relitigation of whether the town and its officials acted with good faith in disciplining and discharging Green. Issue preclusion may be used defensively if (1) there was a final judgment on the merits in the prior adjudication; (2) the p
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