Title: Hill v. General Motors Corporation
Citation: 214 Kan. 279, 519 P.2d 608
Docket Number: 47,249
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: March 2, 1974

214 Kan. 279 (1974)
519 P.2d 608
BETTY J. HILL, Appellee,
v.
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Appellant.
No. 47,249

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed March 2, 1974.
Terry J. Brady, of Gage, Tucker, Hodges, Kreamer, Kelly &amp; Varner, of Kansas City, Missouri, argued the cause, and Thomas M. Van Cleave, Jr., and Bill E. Fabian, of McAnany, Van Cleave &amp; Phillips, of Kansas City, were with him on the brief for appellant.
James Yates, of Kansas City, argued the cause, and Wyman Wickersham, of Kansas City, Missouri, was with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
FATZER, C.J.:
This is a workmen's compensation case in which the employer challenges a compensation award made to an employee under the provisions of the occupational disease statute, K.S.A. 44-5a01 et seq.
The claimant, Betty J. Hill, was employed by respondent as an assembly line worker. Her job entitled the placing of molding on back windows of automobiles. Her work required repeated hammering with a rubber mallet. On January 7, 1971, she informed her foreman that her right arm was hurting and she was sent to the plant medical facility for treatment.
The claimant received treatment daily during the first three months of 1971 at respondent's medical facility. From March to July 1971, she was off work for other causes. A short time after she returned to work on the assembly line, she began having difficulty again with her arm. In February 1972, Dr. Kantor, the plant medical *280 director, referred her to a private physician for treatment. The physician, Dr. Unger, started claimant on a therapy program. Her arm did not respond, and on April 16, 1972, Dr. Unger had claimant admitted to a hospital where she underwent surgery to remove a ligament from her right elbow. The claimant lost nine weeks work as a result of this medical treatment.
When claimant recuperated she returned to work and resumed her task on the assembly line. Later she advised respondent she was physically unable to continue in the job due to the condition of her arm. Respondent then placed her on cleanup duty. Thereafter, her arm continued to hurt and Dr. Unger restricted claimant to light duty. Respondent then found her a job wiping off cars. On June 26, 1972, claimant consulted Dr. Ronald K. Piper, an orthopedic surgeon, who prescribed therapy and cortisone treatments.
In his deposition, Dr. Piper testified the claimant was suffering from chronic synovitis which is commonly referred to as "tennis elbow." He estimated the claimant had a seven to eight percent permanent partial loss of use of her right arm as a result of the synovitis condition and the operation. Dr. Peter C. Boylan, an orthopedic surgeon, examined claimant on July 27, 1972, and testified on behalf of the respondent. It was Dr. Boylan's opinion the claimant was suffering a five to seven percent permanent partial loss of use of her right arm as a result of the synovitis condition. Both physicians attributed the synovitis condition to claimant's employment on the assembly line.
The examiner found claimant was suffering from synovitis of her right arm due to repeated use of that arm, and that synovitis was an occupational disease compensable under K.S.A. 44-5a02 (11). He made further findings:
This award was reviewed and sustained by the Director of Workmen's Compensation. (K.S.A. 44-551.) General Motors took an appeal to the district court (K.S.A. 44-556) and that court affirmed the award. The findings of the district court set out in the journal entry include:
The threshold question presented is whether the claimant is entitled to compensation under provisions of the occupational disease statutes, K.S.A. 44-5a01 et seq. In the instant case, the examiner, director and district court found the claimant was earning a higher wage in her employment after the difficulty with her arm than she was earning when the difficulty first developed. General Motors contends that pursuant to K.S.A. 44-5a04 when an employee returns to work, and his or her earnings are equal or higher after contracting *282 an occupational disease than before, the award should be cancelled as a matter of law. The point is not well taken.
The statute in question (44-5a04), in providing for cancellation of an award, states:
This court has considered an award of compensation under provisions of the occupational disease statute in Knight v. Hudiburg-Smith Chevrolet, Olds, Inc., 200 Kan. 205, 435 P.2d 3; Ochoa v. Swift &amp; Co., 200 Kan. 478, 436 P.2d 412; and Linville v. Steel Fixture Manufacturing Co., 205 Kan. 447, 469 P.2d 312. Both parties to this appeal emphasize the particular disability presented in each of our prior cases. The basis of respondent's argument is the statements in Knight, supra, wherein it was said:
Respondent contends that claimant is suffering from no functional disability other than synovitis, and she has no functional disability apart from the synovitis attributable to the particular employment. The claimant contends our prior decisions are distinguishable in that they dealt with workmen who were incapacitated only as to certain types of employment. Here, the claimant contends she is incapacitated in performing any manual labor requiring the use of her right arm.
While claimant's proposition is amply supported by medical evidence, the distinction does not control the case at bar. The statute in question (44-5a04) requires the director to make certain findings before he may cancel an award of compensation. The last sentence of that statute provides, "... the director may cancel the award and end the compensation." (Emphasis ours.) This sentence does not command the director to automatically terminate *283 the award, rather it vests in him discretionary power to cancel or end the award. Our decisions support that conclusion.
In Knight, supra, this court stated:
To hold the director must cancel or end an award when the conditions of K.S.A. 44-5a04 have been established by an employer negates completely the director's statutorily granted discretion. Discretionary rulings made by the director will not be overturned on appeal in the absence of a clear abuse of discretion. (Stanley v. United Iron Works Co., 160 Kan. 243, 160 P.2d 708; Johnson v. General Motors Corporation, 199 Kan. 720, 433 P.2d 585; Leiker v. Manor House, Inc., 203 Kan. 906, 457 P.2d 107.) There was no dispute in the medical evidence which clearly showed the claimant will continue to suffer in the future a seven and one-half percent permanent partial functional disability. We have examined carefully the record and find no abuse of discretion has been established by respondent.
We turn now to the difference in claimant's wages as it relates to the award of compensation. When the claimant's difficulty first arose on January 7, 1971, she was earning a base rate of pay of $4.25 per hour, a cost-of-living allowance of .05 cents per hour, *284 and a shift premium of 5 percent of her base hourly rate of pay and cost-of-living allowance. After surgery, she returned to work on respondent's assembly line at higher pay rate. Thereafter, she was reassigned to other duties at this higher pay rate.
The award of compensation is governed by K.S.A. 44-5a06 which provides, in part:
The claimant suffers from synovitis due to the repetitive use of her right arm. She was last so exposed to the hazards of such disease when she returned to work on the assembly line at the higher rate of pay. Accordingly, the examiner, director and district court did not err in computing claimant's award based on the higher wage rate.
The judgment is affirmed.