IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA

SONJA KING, Petitioner and Appellant,

STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND, Respondent and Respondent Insurer for SUPER 1FOODS, Employer.

APPEAL FROM: Workers' Compensation Court ,State ofMontana, The Honorable Mike McCarter, Judge presiding.

COUNSEL OF RECORD: For Appellant: Howard Toole, Attorney at Law, Missoula, Montana For Respondent: Ann E. Clark, Legal Counsel, State Compensation Insurance Fund, Helena, Montana

Submitted on Briefs: December 5. 1996 Decided: April 29, 197 Filed:Justice Karla 

### M. Gray delivered the Opinion of the Court.. SonjaKing (King) appeals fromthejudgment entered by the Workers' Compensation Court which concluded that she is not entitled to an increase in her permanent partial disability benefits. We affirm. The soleissuepresented on appeal is whetherthe Workers' Compensation Court erred in concluding that King's permanent partial disability benefits cannot be based on wages from fewer than four pre-injury pay periods. BACKGROUND King went to work in the bakery department at Super 1Foods (Super 1) in Hamilton, Montana, in December of 1991. She was laid offin January of 1992,but returned to work in February, working less than full time. Starting in March of 1992,King's hours increased. King sustained a twisting injury to her neck on April 13, 1992, while working as a bakery salesperson. The State Compensation Insurance Fund (State Fund), Super 1's workers' compensation insurer at the time of King's injury, accepted liability and paid medical and disabilitybenefits. King continued working after her injury and took a new position with Super 1 as a cake decorator. She experienced pain and headaches, however, and eventually sought treatment fiom a chiropractor. Her chiropractic treatments continued until November of 1993, when the State Fund referred King to Dr. Catherine Capps (Capps), an orthopedicsurgeon,for evaluation. Because King became pregnant in late 1993,Capps' evaluation was delayed. King continuedworking up until the birth ofher child and then took maternity leave. Capps completed her evaluation and determined that King should not return to work as a bakery salesperson or cake decorator with Super 1. Soon thereafter, the State Fund began paying King temporary total disability benefits. Eventually, Capps concluded that King had reached maximum medical improvement and rated her impairment at six percent of the whole person. The StateFund subsequently converted King's benefits to permanent partial disability. In February of 1996, King petitioned the Workers' Compensation Court for a determination of severalissues, one of which was whether she was entitledto an increase in her permanent partial disability benefits. Prior to trial, the parties stipulated that the only remaining issue was the amount of King's disability benefits and agreed to submit the issue

to the court on briefs, together with undisputed facts and exhibits. King advancedtwo theories in support ofher request for an increasein her permanent partial disabilitybenefit rate. She contended that her benefits should be calculated based on her earnings during the three pay periods immediately preceding her injury or, alternatively, that post-injurypay periods should be considered in calculating her benefits. The Workers' Compensation Court rejected both contentions. It concluded, in pertinent part, that 

## 5 39-7 1 

### - 123(3),MCA (1991), does not permit the use of fewer than four pay periods in calculatingpermanent partial disability benefits when the claimant has worked for the employer for at least four pay periods and determined,on that basis, that King was not entitled to an increase in her permanentpartial disability benefits. Judgment was entered and King appeals. STANDARD OF REVIEW The sole issue on appeal asserts error with regard to the Workers' Compensation Court's legal conclusion. We review conclusions of law to determine whether they are correct. Turjan v. Valley View Estates (1995), 272 Mont. 386,390, 901 P.2d 76, 79 (citing Caekaert v. StateCompensationMutual Ins. Fund (1994), 268 Mont. 105,111,885P.2d 495, 498). DISCUSSION Did the Workers' Compensation Court err in concludingthat King's permanent partial disability benefits cannot be based on wages from fewer than four pre-injury pay periods? Workers' compensation benefits are determinedby the statutes in effect on the date ofinjury. Buckrnanv. Montana Deaconess Hosp. (1986), 224 Mont. 3 18,321,730P.2d 380, 382 (citations omitted). Therefore, the 1991 version of the Workers' Compensation Act applies to the calculation ofbenefits to which King is entitled as a result of her 1992injury. As a generalrule, the weekly benefit rate for permanent partial disability is 66 213% of the wages received at the time of injury. Section 39-71-703(4), MCA (1991). The legislature has definedwages as follows: For compensation benefit purposes, the average actual earnings for the fourpay periods immediately preceding the injury are the employee's wages, except 

### if:(a) the term of employment for the same employer is less than fourpay periods, in which case the employee's wages are the hourly rate times the number of hours in a week for which the employee was hired to work; or (b) for good cause shown by the claimant, the use of the four pay periods does not accurately reflect the claimant's employment history with the employer, in which case the insurermay use additional pay periods. Section 39-71-123(3), MCA (1991). King contends that her benefits should be calculated on the basis of the three pay periods immediately preceding her injury. Because she worked fewer hours--thus, earning substantially reduced wages--in the earliest of the four pay periods referenced in 

### 9 39-71- 123(3), MCA (1991), she contends that application of the statute to the calculation of her benefits artificially lowers her benefit rate. As a result, she argues that the Workers' Compensation Court erred as a matter of law in applying the statutepursuant to its terms. We disagree. In construing a statute, courts are "simplyto ascertain and declarewhat is in terms or in substance contained therein,not to insert what has been omitted or to omit what has been inserted." Section 1-2-101,MCA. By its terms, § 39-7 1 

### - 123(3),MCA (1 99l), establishes the general rule that workers' compensation benefits are to be determined on the basis ofthe employee's average actual earnings in the fourpay periods immediatelypreceding the injury. Section 39-71

### - 123(3),MCA (1991), also contains exceptions to the "fourpay period" general rule. The exception set forth in 

## 5 39-71-123(3)(a), MCA (1991), creates an alternative method for calculating wages when the employee has worked for the employer for less than four pay periods. Because King worked for Super 1 for more than four payperiods immediately preceding her injury, however, it is undisputed that the exception contained in 

## 5 39-71-123(3)(a),MCA (1991),is inapplicable here. Nor does the exception contained in 

## 5 39-71-123(3)(b), MCA (1991), which permits the use of additional pay periods in calculating benefits under certain circumstances, permit use offewer than fourpay periods in calculating a benefit rate. King's assertion of entitlement to a benefit rate based on the three pay periods immediately preceding her injury is not supportedby the statutory language defining wages for purposes of compensation benefits under the Act. In essence, she requests ajudicial amendment to 

## 5 39-71 

### - 123,MCA (199I), to add a third exception to the "fourpay period" rule. We cannot insert into a statutewhat the legislature has omitted. 

### See 

## 8 1-2-101,MCA. King urges that using fourpay periods to calculate her benefit rate artificially lowers that rate and contravenes the public policy underlying the Act. Specifically, she contends that 

## 5 39-71-105(1), MCA (1991), which is part of the legislature's declaration of public policy, requires that her "wage-loss benefit shouldbear a reasonable relationship to actual wages lost as a result of a work-related injury or disease." King cites to no authority, however, under which we coulduse this extracted portion of the publicpolicy underlying the Act to vary the specific provisions enacted by the legislature in 

## 8 39-71 - 123,MCA (199 1). Moreover,King's extractionofthe "reasonable relationship" language from subsection (1) of

## 5 39-71-105, MCA (1991), ignores other provisions of the public policy declaration. We must consider the statute as a whole. 

### See Gaub v. Milbank Ins. Co. (1986), 220 Mont.424, 427, 715 P.2d 443, 445 (citations omitted). In this regard, 

## 5 39-71-105(1), MCA 

# 1 (1 99I),provides that [wlage-lossbenefits are not intended to make an injured worker whole; they are intended to assist a worker at a reasonable cost to the employer. Within that limitation, the wage-loss benefit should bear a reasonable relationship to actual wages lost 

## . . . . 

# 1 In addition,

## 3 39-71-105(4), MCA (1991), expressly provides that the provisions ofthe Act

I 

### 1 "mustbe construed according to their terms and not liberally in favor of any party." Having 

# ~ concluded above that 

## 5 39-71-123(3), MCA (1991), does not permit the use of fewer than fourpre-injury pay periods in determining King's permanent partial disability benefits, it is 

# ~ clear that adopting King's 

## 5 39-7 1 

## - 105(1),MCA, "reasonablerelationship" argument would require us to both ignore explicit statutory language and liberally construe the Act in King's favor in direct contravention of 

## 5 39-71-105(4), MCA (1991). We may not do so. King also cites to Deshner v. Town and Country Foods, Inc. (1994), 266 Mont. 352, 880 P.2d 1300,and Gregory v. Michael Bailey & SonsLogging (1992),255 Mont. 190,841 P.2d 525, as examples ofthis Court's willingness to recognize "adjustments"to the four pay period rule. She attempts to rely on these cases as support for her argument that fewer than four pay periods should be used to calculate her benefits, but her reliance is misplaced. In Deshner, the employee had received a wage increase from $6 per hour to $7.25 per hour shortly before his injury. Deshner, 880P.2d at 1301. In calculating Deshner's disability benefit, the Workers' Compensation Court used the four pay periods prior to Deshner's injury, during which his hourly wage was $6. Deshner, 880 P.2d at 1301. On appeal, weobserved that an injuredemployee's hourly wage at the time ofthe injury is usually the same

as it was over the course ofthe preceding four pay periods; in Deshner's case, however, his actual wage at the time of the injury was substantially higher. Deshner, 880 P.2d at 1302. Under such a circumstance, the statutory provisions regarding "wages at the time of the injury" and "preceding four pay periods" were in conflict and, therefore, the exception contained in 

## 5 39-71-123(3)(b), MCA, applied because a calculation based on $6 per hour did not adequately reflect Deshner's employment history. Deshner, 880 P.2d at 1303. The result was a benefit calculation based on Deshner's actual wage at the time of injury. Nothing in Deshner supports King's argument that fewer than four pay periods may be used in calculating her benefits. There, we harmonized and gave effect to statutory provisions which conflicted because of the particular facts of the case. No such conflict exists here. Deshner does not authorize the use of three, rather than four, pay periods in calculatingKing's permanent partial disability benefits. 

### Greeorvis also inapplicable here. There, the employee was a laborer for a logging company whosebusiness involved seasonal work. Gregory, 841 P.2d at 526. Gregory's total employmenthistory spanned 59 weeks, ofwhich he worked 3 1. Gregory, 841 P.2d at 527. The Workers' Compensation Court calculated Gregory's weekly benefits by considering his entire employmenthistory with the employer, pursuant to the exception for additionalpay periods in § 39-71-123(3)(b), MCA, instead of only the four pay periods immediately preceding the injury, and then excluding the weeks in which no work was performed.Gregorv, 841 P.2d at 527. On appeal, we affirmed the court's application of the "additional pay periods" exception in 

## 5 39-71-123, MCA, and its exclusion of the periods of forced idleness in Gregory's work history in calculatinghis benefits. Gregory, 841 P.2d at 527-28. We concluded that "where sporadic, seasonal work is at issue, it is reasonable when calculating'usual' salary to calculateon a larger scalethan fourpay periods[.]" Grerroy, 841 P.2d at 527. King's attempt to analogize her situation to the facts in Gregory is not persuasive. First, King was not a seasonal worker as in Gregory, and the fact that she worked fewer hours during one ofthe four pay periods immediatelypreceding her injury does not convert her employment to "seasonal, sporadic work." Moreover, we concluded in Gregory that, based on the circumstances of the case, it was reasonable and appropriate to apply the 

## 5 39- 7 1 

### - 123(3)(b), MCA, exception and calculate Gregory's benefits by using additional pay periods rather than only the four pay periods immediately preceding the date of injury. Gregory, 841 P.2d at 527-28. Thus, Gregory does not support King's argument that her benefits should be based on fewer than four pay periods. Finally,King's contention thather "shortpay periodv--in which she worked only a few hours--is akin to the "forced idleness" in Gregory and entitles her to the use of only three pay periods in calculating her benefits is without merit. Forced idleness as used in Gregory and Sandahl v. James A. Slack, Inc. (1987), 225 Mont. 208, 732 P.2d 831, which we cited in Gregory, connotesperiods during which no work is performed due to the seasonal nature of- ~-

the work or weather-related equipment unavailability. See Greeorv, 841 P.2d at 527; Sandahl, 732 P.2d at 833. No such forced idleness is at issue here. In any event, however, exclusion of any period of forced illness would result in consideration of additional preinjury pay periods, not the use of fewerpre-injury pay periods for which King contends. We concludethat neither 

## 5 39-71-123, MCA (1991),nor our case law authorizes the

use of fewer than fourpre-injury pay periods in calculating an employee's permanent partial disability benefit rate when the employee has worked for four or more pay periods. On that basis, we hold that the Workers' Compensation Court correctly concluded that King was not entitled to an increase in her permanent partial disability benefits. Affirmed.

Justices /