Opinion ID: 1420198
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: PTD Workers Versus All Others

Text: Petitioners argue that our decision in Romero has already determined that the legislature cannot legitimately distinguish between PTD and PPD workers. We said the following in that case: The irrationality of section 8-42-111(5) is illustrated by the statute's own provisions.... The statute bars persons age sixty-five and older from recovering workers' compensation benefits only if those persons are permanently and totally disabled. This discriminatory classification belies the justification for section 8-42-111(5). Romero, 912 P.2d at 69. Petitioners suggest that this language in Romero creates a per se standard, preventing distinctions based on PTD versus all other types of disabilities. However, our constitutional concern in Romero was the arbitrary elimination of benefits. We held that a PTD versus all other claimants distinction could not be made in the context of a provision which (1) completely eliminated workers' compensation benefits, and (2) operated irrespective of whether the worker would actually receive retirement benefits. Because the PTD versus all other claimants distinction in section 8-42-111(5), 3B C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), was not rationally related to the governmental goal of preventing a duplication of benefits, it was unconstitutional. Section 8-42-103(1)(c)(II) and (IV) is very different from section 8-42-111(5). While section 8-42-103(1)(c)(II) treats PTD workers differently from workers receiving TTD, TPD, and PPD payments after their sixty-fifth birthday, we cannot determine a statutory classification to be unconstitutional under rational basis review, unless no conceivable set of facts justifies the legislature's choice. See Pace, 938 P.2d at 507; Duran, 883 P.2d at 483. The rational basis for the General Assembly's choice to distinguish PTD workers who have reached their sixty-fifth birthday from all other injured workers of the same age resides in the purposes of Colorado's four-part classification of disabilities: (1) temporary total, (2) temporary partial, (3) permanent partial, and (4) permanent total. See § 8-42-105, 3 C.R.S. (1998) (TTD); § 8-42-106, 3 C.R.S. (1998) (TPD); § 8-42-107, 3 C.R.S. (1998) (PPD); § 8-42-111, 3 C.R.S. (1998) (PTD); see generally, 4 Larson, supra, § 57.12(a), at 10-17 to 10-19. Under sections 8-42-105 and 8-42-106, temporary disability benefitsboth total and partialare payable until the claimant reaches maximum medical improvement (MMI), unless such benefits have already terminated for other reasons. See Donlon, 914 P.2d at 401. Both types of temporary disability benefits cease once a claimant reaches MMI. At that time, the extent of permanent disability can be appraised for the purpose of either a permanent partial or a permanent total award. See 4 Larson, supra, § 57.12(b), at 10-26. When a claimant reaches MMI, his or her degree of permanent medical impairment (if any) is determined in the course of calculating an award for PPD under section 8-42-107(2) and (8) or PTD under section 8-42-111. A claimant qualifies for PTD payments only if she or he is unable to earn any wages in the same or other employment. § 8-40-201(16.5)(a), 3 C.R.S. (1998). Each of the four classifications reflects the duration and severity of the claimant's disability and determines the amount of benefits available to injured workers. CCIA and SIF assert a three-fold rational basis for the disparate treatment of PTD claimants in comparison to TPD, TTD, and PPD claimants to whom social security and employer-paid retirement benefits are payable after the person's sixty-fifth birthday. They include: maintaining the fiscal integrity of the workers' compensation system; allocating the fiscal burden equitably among funding sources; and controlling costs to employers while providing legislatively-intended benefits to injured workers. We agree that the offset provision has a rational basis. Considering the purpose of the offset provisionpreventing a duplication of wage loss protection payments for which an injured worker is eligible in the same time period after age sixty-fiveit is reasonable to distinguish PTD workers from TTD, TPD, and PPD workers. TTD and TPD awards are temporary; they cease when the worker reaches MMI. PPD awards are limited in time and capped in amount according to a statutory schedule or formula on the assumption that the worker may earn future wages. [8] See § 8-42-107. In contrast, PTD awards are designed to provide wage loss protection for the life of an injured worker who is unable to return to the work force. See § 8-40-201(16.5)(a). The choice of sixty-five as the age to commence coordination of retirement payments and PTD payments has a rational basis. Under federal law, for example, social security disability benefits cease at age sixty-five in favor of retirement benefits. This has been the age to which Americans traditionally look for ceasing full time employment, deciding to work part time or not at all, or shifting to an alternative pursuit that may or may not pay a wage. Allowing non-PTD claimants who have reached their sixty-fifth birthday to receive their social security or employer-paid retirement payments, while also receiving their remaining workers' compensation payments up to the statutory cap, recognizes the relatively limited amount of their compensation payments and provides an incentive for them to keep, or return to, full-time or part-time work if they choose not to retire. On the other hand, in addressing the offset to those cases in which the overlap between retirement benefits and disability benefits is the greatest and the most prolonged, the General Assembly has crafted a reasonable legislative balance between employee benefits and employer costs in maintaining the workers' compensation program. b.