Opinion ID: 1420198
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: PTD Claimants Injured Before Age Forty-Five Versus Afterwards

Text: Within the offset provision, the legislature has further distinguished between PTDs who incurred their injuries prior to age forty-five and those who incurred their injuries at age forty-five or older. Under section 8-42-103(1)(c)(IV), the retirement payment offset applies only if the injury of the PTD worker occurred after reaching the age of forty-five. CCIA and SIF argue that this distinction has a rational basis because it recognizes the relatively limited opportunity to accrue retirement benefits available to individuals who become PTD comparatively early in their working lives. We agree. Section 8-42-103(1)(c)(IV), previously section 8-51-101(1)(c)(IV), originated as an amendment to the retirement offset provision of the Workers' Compensation Act, adopted by the General Assembly as part of House Bill 1322 in 1989. The legislature adopted this compromise amendment to accommodate the needs of both injured workers and employers. Testimony of February 8, 1989 before the House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources reveals the basis for this distinction: [A]n employee who becomes permanently and totally disabled at age 30 no longer pays into the Social Security system, so that when he retires he has the maximum dollar amount. He's not making $42,000 a year. Therefore, when he retires, he's not going to get $800 a month. What he's going to get is based upon what's paid in when he became permanently and totally disabled ... [T]he argument from the claimant's perspective is ... [that] you've deprived that injured worker of being able to pay in maximum dollars into Social Security so that he gets a higher retirement at age 65. Hearings on H.B. 1322 before the House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources, 57th General Assembly, First Regular Session (Feb. 8, 1989) (statement of Robert Turner, workers' compensation attorney). Thus, the legislature sought to craft a reasonable solution that would mitigate the effect of early PTD, [9] striking a balance between the goal of preventing duplication of benefits and the equities of individuals whose retirement benefits are substantially lower by virtue of their early-acquired workplace injury. In choosing age forty-five as the demarcation point, the General Assembly borrowed from the Social Security Act's disability benefits provisions. The reason that 45 was selected is that under the Social Security Act at the present time, you're considered a younger individual if you're under the age of 45. Id.; see 20 C.F.R. pt. 404, Subpart P, App. 2, § 201.00(h) (1998)(defining the term younger individual). [10] Therefore, we conclude that a rational basis exists for differentiating PTD claimants who suffered their injuries prior to age forty-five and those whose injuries occurred afterwards. See Christie v. Coors Transp. Co., 933 P.2d 1330, 1333 (Colo. 1997). c.