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In re Appeal of Holloran11/14/2001
Compensation Appeals Board
(New Hampshire Compensation Appeals Board)
The petitioner, Patrick W. Holloran, appeals a decision by the New Hampshire Compensation Appeals Board (board) holding that it lacks authority to assess an employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier for an employer's violation of RSA 281-A:25-a (1999). We reverse and remand.
The essential facts are not disputed. In September 1997, while working at Arrow Fire Protection Co., Inc. (Arrow), the petitioner sustained a work-related injury. The respondent, CNA Insurance Company (CNA), provided workers' compensation insurance to Arrow. As a result, the petitioner was awarded temporary total disability benefits from September 25, 1997 to January 8, 1998. Approximately one year after the date of the injury, the petitioner's doctor released the petitioner to "full-time, full-duty work." Thereafter, the petitioner requested that Arrow reinstate him to his former position. Arrow declined to reinstate the petitioner, claiming that his former position was no longer available due to downsizing.
A hearing was held on the issue of the petitioner's right to reinstatement. By that time, however, the petitioner had obtained a new job paying higher wages; accordingly, the hearing focused upon the petitioner's recovery of payments from the time Arrow refused to reinstate the petitioner until he began employment at his new job. The petitioner's claim fell under RSA 281-A:25-a, IV, which provides that " he commissioner may assess employers in violation of this section all weekly wage benefits retroactive to the date the injured employee was eligible for reinstatement." The hearing officer found that the petitioner was entitled to reinstatement as of October 28, 1998. In light of this finding, the hearing officer ruled that Arrow was obligated to pay the petitioner's weekly wage benefits retroactive from October 28, 1998, through January 3, 1999, and further directed that " ayment of weekly compensation by [Arrow] to comply with this decision shall begin and/or continue as soon as possible after this decision's effective date."
The petitioner filed a limited appeal to the board, in which he sought a ruling that the employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier be responsible for making the payments directly to him. CNA moved to dismiss on the ground that RSA 281-A:25-a, IV provides no basis for imposing a payment obligation on the employer's insurance carrier. The board agreed, finding that " here is nothing in the [statute] which permits a direct action against the insurance carrier for the employer's violation," and dismissed the appeal. Following the board's denial of the petitioner's motion for rehearing, the petitioner filed this appeal, arguing that the plain language of RSA 281-A:25-a, IV does permit a direct action against an insurance carrier for an employer's violation.
We will uphold the findings and rulings of the board unless they lack evidentiary support or are tainted by legal error. See Appeal of Jackson, 142 N.H. 204, 206 (1997); RSA 541:13 (1997). The appealing party bears the burden of demonstrating that the board's decision is unreasonable or unlawful. See Jackson, 142 N.H. at 206.
This court is the final arbiter of the meaning of a statute, as expressed in the words of the statute itself. We interpret statutes not in isolation, but in the context of the overall statutory scheme. Although we give undefined language its plain and ordinary meaning, we must keep in mind the intent of the legislation, which is determined by examining the construction of the statute as a whole, and not simply by examining isolated words and phrases found therein. See
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