 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
DEPEW v. NCR ENGINEERING & MFG.2/14/1997
This is a workers compensation case. Saundra F. Depew appeals the decision of the Workers Compensation Board (Board) that she suffered two separate scheduled injuries to her arms. Depew contends the Board misconstrued Berry v. Boeing Military Airplanes, 20 Kan. App. 2d 220, 885 P.2d 1261 (1994), when it refused to award her a general bodily disability for bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome.
Saundra Depew began working for NCR Engineering and Manufacturing (NCR Engineering) in 1978 as a secretary. In 1989, she began using computers in her work. Depew's work involved the creation of detailed computer designs, which required extensive use of a computer mouse. Depew had to grip the mouse in order to keep the cursor from slipping.
Depew began to experience pain in her right hand and arm in the fall of 1990. She was referred to Dr. Mark Melhorn, who diagnosed right carpal tunnel syndrome. Dr. Melhorn performed surgery on Depew's right wrist and elbow on April 1, 1991. Depew was released to return to work without restrictions on May 6, 1991. On May 9, 1991, Dr. Melhorn rated Depew's impairment at 7.7% to the right arm.
Depew continued to have problems with her right arm after she returned to work. She, therefore, began to use her left arm to do her work. Depew subsequently began having symptoms in her left arm. By September 13, 1991, her symptoms on the left had developed into carpal tunnel syndrome.
Depew saw Dr. George Lucas in December 1991. He removed her from work, and she has not worked since December 16, 1991. Dr. Lucas rated Depew's impairment to the left arm at 5% and imposed permanent work restrictions.
Depew filed a claim for workers compensation. The administrative law judge (ALJ) entered an award for a scheduled injury to Depew's right arm based on a 7.7% permanent partial impairment of function to the right arm. The ALJ awarded 55% permanent
partial general disability for a work disability from the second injury to Depew's left arm.
On review, the Board adopted the finding that Depew has a 7.7% disability to her right arm. The Board, however, determined that Depew's second injury was to the left arm only and concluded that the second injury should also be treated as a scheduled injury. The Board, therefore, entered an award for a scheduled injury to Depew's left arm, based on a 5% permanent partial impairment of function to the left arm.
K.S.A. 44-556 provides that workers compensation appeals are subject to the Act for Judicial Review and Civil Enforcement of Agency Actions, K.S.A. 77-601 et seq. That Act limits the relief available on appeal. K.S.A. 77-621(c). The particular subsections applicable to this appeal are 77-621(c)(4) and (7):
"(c) The court shall grant relief only if it determines any one or more of the following:
. . . .
(4) the agency has erroneously interpreted or applied the law;
. . . .
(7) the agency action is based on a determination of fact, made or implied by the agency, that is not supported by evidence that is substantial when viewed in light of the record as a whole, which includes the agency record for judicial review, supplemented by any additional evidence received by the court under this act."
The 1993 amendments to the Workers Compensation Act limited review of all orders issued after October 1, 1993, to questions of law. K.S.A. 44-556(a). However, whether the Board's findings of fact are supported by substantial competent evidence is a question of law. Tovar v. IBP, Inc., 15 Kan. App. 2d 782, 784, 817 P.2d 212, rev. denied 249 Kan. 7
Page 1 2 3 4 Kansas Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|