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Temm v. S.D. Warren Co.12/6/2005
Reporter of Decisions
Argued: April 27, 2005
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and CLIFFORD, DANA, ALEXANDER, CALKINS, and LEVY, JJ.
[ ] This is an appeal from a decision of a hearing officer of the Workers' Compensation Board (Jerome, HO), awarding benefits to Alvin Temm, but reducing the award by the amount Temm receives from an employer-provided disability insurance plan. We granted appellate review to address the following question: "Whether, pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. § 221(10) (2001), an employer is entitled to an offset for disability benefits when the disability insurance plan was in existence on December 31, 1992, but renewed after that date?" We answer that question in the affirmative, and affirm the hearing officer's decision.
I. BACKGROUND
[ ] Alvin Temm performed various production jobs for S.D. Warren for thirty-two years. He worked as an hourly worker from 1965 to 1985, and a salaried supervisor from 1985 until he was laid off in 1997. In 1997, he brought a workers' compensation claim alleging that he was incapacitated from back and leg pain due to a 1994 injury. That claim was denied. In 1997, Temm was laid off from S.D. Warren, and in 1998 he began receiving disability retirement benefits as a result of his back and leg injuries.
[ ] Temm received disability retirement benefits pursuant to two different disability plans, the hourly employee plan and the salaried employee plan. S.D. Warren's representative testified that the hourly employee plan contains a provision that authorizes a dollar-for-dollar offset against workers' compensation benefits. The salaried employee plan, at issue in this case, is silent as to offset.
[ ] In 2001, Temm filed a petition for restoration of benefits and to fix compensation concerning the 1994 injury, and a petition for award and to fix compensation concerning three injuries dated August 16, 1995, November 8, 1996, and December 6, 1996. After a hearing, the hearing officer determined that the August 16, 1995, and the November 8, 1996, work-related injuries are compensable injuries, but the employer is entitled to offset the disability retirement payments from the award. The hearing officer made an express finding that the disability plan, in existence prior to December 31, 1992, had been renewed thereafter.
[ ] All parties filed motions for findings of fact and conclusions of law, pursuant to which the hearing officer amended the decree to establish Temm's average weekly wage, and to elaborate on its finding regarding renewal of the disability plan. Temm filed a petition for appellate review, which we partially granted pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. § 322 (2001), limited to the issue of whether the employer is entitled to offset the disability benefits pursuant to section 221.
II. DISCUSSION
[ ] Section 221 of the Workers' Compensation Act provides for the coordination of benefits an employee receives pursuant to the Act with payments the employee receives pursuant to a disability insurance policy provided by the same employer from whom the benefits payable under the Act are received. 39-A M.R.S.A. § 221(3)(A)(2), (3) (2001). Section 221(10) provides an exception to the general rule as follows:
10. Exceptions for certain disability payments. This section does not apply to any payments received or to be received under a disability insurance plan provided by the same employer if that plan is in existence on December 31, 1992. Any disability insurance plan entered into or renewed on or after January 1, 1993 may provide that the payments under that plan provided by the employer may not be coordinated pursuant to this section.
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