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Brotherton v. White River Area Agency On Aging12/14/2005
Glenda Brotherton appeals from the denial of workers' compensation benefits, arguing that the Workers' Compensation Commission erred in determining that she was not performing employment services for appellee White River Area Agency on Aging ("the agency") when she was injured. Because we agree, we reverse and remand for an award of benefits.
Brotherton was employed by the agency and by Mary Jane Foster. Her duties for each involved serving as a personal-care aide for elderly or disabled individuals who lived with Foster. In total, five elderly or disabled women lived with Foster, who was paid by the women's families to provide twenty-four-hour care to the women. Foster is also a personal-care aide employed by the agency; four of Foster's five clients were agency clients, as well. The agency paid Brotherton to provide three hours of personal-care services per client to two of Foster's clients, one of whom was Maxine Raines. The duties to be performed for each client were prescribed pursuant to an agency care plan, that included feeding, toileting, bathing, grooming, dressing, meal preparation, and housekeeping services. Raines, in particular, was bedfast, requiring Brotherton to bathe her in her bed and to frequently assist her in using the toilet.
Although the normal routine for an agency personal-care aide is to go to a client's home, help that client for a specific number of hours, and then go to another home, the agency knew that was not the routine that Brotherton and Foster kept. As established by the testimony of Brotherton, Foster, and Leanne Kronnister, the agency's human-resources director, the agency knew that Brotherton also worked for Foster. The agency also knew that instead of working two successive three-hour shifts in which care was devoted exclusively to a "scheduled" client during each three-hour period, Brotherton arrived at Foster's home at 8:00 a.m. and worked for six hours. Brotherton was scheduled to work for Raines from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. However, the agency knew that at any given time on her shift, Brotherton performed services for any of Foster's clients who needed assistance, including Raines.
Brotherton and Foster normally bathed the clients between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. It is undisputed that at approximately 9:00 a.m. on July 16, 2002, Brotherton and Foster were in the process of bathing clients when Brotherton assisted Raines in using the toilet. Raines began to slip as Brotherton moved her from her bed to a toilet at the end of the bed; as Brotherton lifted Raines onto the toilet, she experienced pain and a burning sensation in her neck. Brotherton experienced more severe pain when she again lifted Raines from the toilet and returned her to her bed. Brotherton immediately reported her injury to Foster.
Brotherton reported the injury to the agency on July 29, 2002, indicating that the injury occurred at 9:00 a.m. when she was helping Raines to use the toilet. Brotherton subsequently had surgery on her back. The agency controverted the claim, asserting that Brotherton was working for Foster when the injury occurred.
After a hearing, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) concluded that Brotherton sustained a neck injury at approximately 9:00 a.m. on July 16. In addition, based on the abnormal MRI findings and the doctor's records indicating that he removed disc fragments during surgery, the ALJ concluded that Brotherton established the existence of her injury by objective medical findings. The ALJ further found that the injury was causally related to the incident involving Raines.
Nonetheless, the ALJ concluded that the injury was not compensable because Brotherton was not performing employment services
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