Opinion ID: 2199933
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Termination of Temporary Total Disability Benefits

Text: Temporary total disability benefits may be awarded by agreement or by decision of the Board. Once temporary total disability benefits are in place, Ind.Code § 22-3-3-7(c) (1993) provides procedures for terminating those benefits. In certain instances (for example, death or reemployment), the employer may terminate temporary total disability benefits without notice to the employee. In all other circumstances, the employer must notify the employee and the Board of its intent to terminate benefits. The employee must then give notice within seven days to the employer and the Board of any disagreement; otherwise benefits are terminated. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the Board must arrange for an evaluation of the employee by an independent medical examiner, who is to determine whether the employee remains temporarily disabled. Indiana Code § 22-3-3-7(c) provides that a party who disagrees with the medical examiner's opinion may apply to the Board for a hearing pursuant to Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5 (1993). A second route to a hearing under Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5 is provided by Ind. Code § 22-3-4-5(a) if the parties had reached a compensation agreement and afterward disagree as to: 1) the continuance of payments under such agreement; 2) the period for which payments are to be made; or 3) the amount to be paid. Typically, these disputes arise from a change in conditions after an agreement is reached. Whether proceeding under Ind.Code § 22-3-3-7(c) or Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5(a), in each case an application by a party triggers the requirement that the Board hold a hearing as early as practicable and decide the dispute. The disputes resolvable under Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5 thus include deciding whether temporary total disability benefits were properly terminated. Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5(b) (1993). The hearing contemplated by Ind.Code § 22-3-4-5(b) may be decided by any or all of the Board members. Ind.Code § 22-3-4-6 (1993). The same section provides that [t]he award shall be filed with the record of proceedings. Id. Thus, the Indiana Worker's Compensation Act explicitly empowers the Board to issue decisions regarding termination of temporary total disability benefits. It also provides for an award resulting from a dispute over that termination. Ind. Code §§ 22-3-4-5 and -6 (1993). We must next address whether such an award is enforceable. The Act directly addresses this issue as well. Any party in interest may enforce orders, decisions, or awards of the Board pursuant to Ind.Code § 22-3-4-9(a) (1993). That section provides: (a) Upon order of the worker's compensation board made after five (5) days notice is given to the opposite party, any party in interest may file in the circuit or superior court ... a certified copy of the memorandum of agreement approved by the board, or of an order or decision of the board, or of an award of the full board unappealed from, or of an award of the full board affirmed upon an appeal, whereupon said court shall render judgment in accordance therewith.... The trial court is authorized merely to enter the award or order of the Board as its own judgment when it receives such an application. Kuhr v. Willan, 90 Ind.App. 567, 570, 169 N.E. 475, 476-77 (1930). The trial court has no jurisdiction to review the decision of the Board or determine whether the decision is correct. Grasselli Chemical Co. v. Simon, 201 Ind. 41, 52, 166 N.E. 2, 6 (1929). Thus, Ind.Code § 22-3-4-9 provides for a party to enforce a temporary total disability award by having it incorporated into a judgment of the trial court. We next turn to whether such an award is appealable. Either party may appeal to the Court of Appeals for errors of law pursuant to Ind.Code § 22-3-4-8 (1993) once an employee has an award from the full Board. The denial of benefits is an award, sometimes styled a negative award, reviewable under the same section. [2] Specifically, Ind.Code § 22-3-4-8(b) provides: (b) An award by the full board shall be conclusive and binding as to all questions of the fact, but either party to the dispute may, within thirty (30) days from the date of such award, appeal to the court of appeals for errors of law under the same terms and conditions as govern appeals in ordinary civil actions. This statute does not use any modifying terms to limit the awards that may be appealable. Rather, it states in straightforward terms that an award by the full board is appealable. In construing statutes, words are to be given their plain, ordinary, and usual meaning unless a contrary purpose is clearly shown by the statute itself. Dep't of Pub. Welfare, State of Ind. v. Couch, 605 N.E.2d 165, 167 (Ind.1992). It has long been held that terms contained in Indiana's Worker's Compensation Act are to be liberally construed to effectuate the humane purposes of the Act. Talas v. Correct Piping Co., Inc., 435 N.E.2d 22, 28 (Ind.1982). Award, in this context, has been defined as a decision or determination of arbitrators to whom a dispute or controversy between two or more persons has been submitted for a decision and determination out of court. Frankfort Gen. Ins. Co. v. Conduitt, 74 Ind.App. 584, 591, 127 N.E. 212, 215 (1920). We find nothing in the statute to prevent an award granting or terminating temporary benefits from constituting an award within the meaning of this section. If we had any doubt, it would be resolved under well-established principles governing this statute and requiring it to be construed in favor of the employee. Talas, 435 N.E.2d at 28. In sum, in its plain and ordinary meaning, award is not limited to awards that terminate the entire controversy. The statutory scheme makes clear that disputes, including those regarding termination of temporary total disability benefits, are to result in awards, and those awards are enforceable and appealable. The Board bases its deferral of cases involving temporary total disability benefits on a line of Indiana Court of Appeals decisions finding a variety of interlocutory orders in Board proceedings not to be appealable. However, none of these cases dealt with an award of benefits or its denial. Each involved some procedural step in the process short of reaching an award. [3] We find none of these decisions inconsistent with the appealability of an award of temporary total disability benefits. Finally, in addition to the Act itself, Indiana Appellate Rule 4(C) gives the Court of Appeals authority to entertain appeals from final decisions of several agencies including the Worker's Compensation Board. For those agencies, Rule 4(C) parallels Ind. Appellate Rule 4(A) which permits appeals from final judgments of trial courts. The Worker's Compensation Act permits, and indeed directs, the Board to enter awards as to temporary total disability benefits. The Act channels these disputes into a process resulting in an award under Ind.Code § 22-3-4-6, and provides for an appeal of awards pursuant to Ind.Code § 22-3-4-8(b). Accordingly, we conclude that an award entered though these procedures is a final decision as to temporary total disability benefits and is appealable as the statute provides. Appealability of these awards represents a statutory deviation from the usual rule that appealability requires a final judgment, i.e., one which disposes of all the issues as to all parties and puts an end to litigation. See, e.g., Thompson v. Thompson, 259 Ind. 266, 269, 286 N.E.2d 657, 659 (1972). However, the provision in the Worker's Compensation Act for review of orders resolving less than all issues is not unique. We note, for example, that a parallel provision in Ind. Appellate Rule 4(B)(1) provides for interlocutory appeals of trial court orders [f]or the payment of money, among other things. Resolution of all issues is the normal, but not the uniformly required, predicate for an appeal even for trial court orders. Our conclusion that an award is appealable is further supported by the overall purpose of Indiana's Worker's Compensation Act. The Act was enacted to remove obstacles and provide a more certain remedy for injured employees. Leisure v. Leisure, 605 N.E.2d 755, 759 (Ind.1993). This Court has long been of the view that worker's compensation acts are designed to afford injured employees an expeditious remedy independent of any negligence. Frampton v. Central Ind. Gas Co., 260 Ind. 249, 250-51, 297 N.E.2d 425, 427 (1973). The basic policy behind this legislation is to shift the economic burden for employment related injuries from the employee to the employer. Id.; Talas, 435 N.E.2d at 28. Many employees who are disabled by a work-related injury are unable to afford medical treatment when compensability under the Act is disputed. Even those employees with health insurance may be denied coverage because of exclusions, designed to fit with anticipated worker's compensation benefits, for injuries obtained during the course of employment. The lack of access to medical treatment may slow or even prevent the employee's ability to achieve full recovery and return to work. Thus, we conclude that appeals of temporary total disability awards are provided by statute, are not precluded by any rule of this Court, and are consistent with, and further the goals of Indiana's Worker's Compensation Act.