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Tam v. Permanente2/8/2001
ity, for just as long we have recognized that, in many situations, a court should 'apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision.'") (Citing Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974)). Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Hyman, 90 Hawaii 1, 5, 975 P.2d 211, 215 (1999) (brackets in original) (holding that amendment granting health care providers standing to challenge insurer's denial of no-fault benefits for treatment of insured could be applied to claim arising from accident occurring prior to amendment's effective date, inasmuch as amended statute "does not impact the timing or scope of either the insured's right to payment, or the provider's right to payment, as defined under no-fault insurance contract and law, but merely relates to collateral matters of the enforcement and administration of these rights").
Although the general rule in workers' compensation cases is that the date of disability determines what year's version of the Workers' Compensation Law is applicable, see Flor, 94 Hawaii at 81-82, 9 P.3d at 393-94, that rule applies to laws determining substantive rights, which accrue at the time when the claimant becomes disabled. Id. With respect to remedial or procedural laws, which "do not affect existing rights, but merely alter the means of enforcing or giving effect to such rights," see Hyman, 90 Hawaii at 5, 975 P.2d at 215, the Director and the LIRAB are required to apply the law that is in effect at the time the agency renders its decision. In this connection, the substantive right underlying the Workers' Compensation Law is the injured employee's right promptly to receive compensation benefits. See Flor, 94 Hawaii at 78, 9 P.3d at 390 ("[The Workers' Compensation Laws'] paramount purpose is to provide compensation to an employee for all work-related injuries[.]") (Citation omitted.). The employer's access to a medical examination order is merely "secondary to the [employee's] right to receive benefits in the first instance." See Hyman, 90 Hawaii at 7, 975 P.2d at 217.
The amendment to HRS § 386-79 at issue in the present matter limited the Director's discretion in ordering medical examinations requested by employers by providing that, subsequent to the initial examination, further examinations may be ordered only when "good and valid reasons exist with regard to the medical progress of the employee's treatment." See supra note 1. This amendment does not affect any substantive rights created by the Workers' Compensation Law. It merely clarifies that an employer's right to subject its employee to a second medical examination by the employer's physician depends upon the presence of good and valid reasons for the examination that relate to changes in the employee's medical condition. In that sense, the amendment is remedial. The amendment is also procedural, inasmuch as medical examinations of an employee are merely an element of the mechanism by which the employee's right to workers' compensation is determined. In other words, such examinations "merely relate to collateral matters of the enforcement and administration of these rights." Hyman, 90 Hawaii at 7, 975 P.2d at 217. Consequently, the 1995 amendment to HRS § 386-79 has retrospective application, and the Director should have considered the effect of the amendment on the continued validity of its order to compel Tam to submit to Kaiser's medical examination when Kaiser sought the enforcement of that order through the hearing before the Director.
The Director's September 19, 1995 decision did not expressly state whether it was retrospectively applying HRS § 386-79, as amended. However, the following language of the decision implies that the Director was apply
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