Opinion ID: 1976846
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Application to Compensable Periods Prior to Effective Date

Text: The Court of Appeals holding on the date of injury issue made it unnecessary for that court to distinguish cases in which the workers' compensation liability relates to periods of disability prior to January 1, 1982, from cases involving compensable periods commencing on or after January 1, 1982. However, our conclusion that § 358 may be applied to pre-effective date injuries is not dispositive of the claim involved in this case and requires us to address the latter question; that is, whether the setoff provisions of § 358 may be applied to reduce an employer's liability for workers' compensation for periods of disability prior to January 1, 1982, by the amount of unemployment compensation benefits the employee received for the same pre-1982 periods, simply because the workers' compensation benefits remained unpaid as of January 1, 1982. We hold that unemployment compensation paid for weekly periods prior to the January 1, 1982 effective date of § 358 may not be deducted from workers' compensation benefits payable for the identical pre-1982 periods. Unlike the factual situation in Chambers, Gomez, and Hughes, application of § 358 to alter liability for benefits due and payable prior to its effective date does constitute retrospectivity. In Hughes, supra, p 87, this Court made clear that by requesting benefits not from the date of retirement but from the effective date of the amendment in question, plaintiffs seek only prospective application of the amendment. Application of the provisions of § 358 for a period of time preceding that statute's effective date is purely retrospective.

Traditional general constructional rules to determine whether a statutory amendment or enactment should be held to operate retrospectively are well established. The primary and overriding rule is that legislative intent governs. All other rules of construction and operation are subservient to this principle. Therefore, the initial critical inquiry is whether the Legislature has stated its retrospective or prospective intention in clear and express language. See Karl v Bryant Air Conditioning Co, 416 Mich 558, 570; 331 NW2d 456 (1982). A statute is not open to construction as a matter of course, but only where the language used in the statute requires interpretation  where it is ambiguous or where two or more constructions can be placed upon it, where it is of such doubtful or obscure meaning that reasonable minds might be uncertain or disagree as to its meaning. City of Lansing v Lansing Twp, supra, p 649. See also Owendale-Gagetown School Dist, supra, p 8; Selk, supra, p 8. We find nothing in the language of § 358 clearly indicating that workers' compensation benefits which remain payable after the statute's effective date are subject to setoff where those benefits are payable for periods of disability prior to the effective date of the section and where the unemployment benefits were also paid for periods prior to the effective date. The statute merely provides that [n]et weekly [workers' compensation] benefits payable be reduced by the amount of [unemployment] benefits paid or payable to the injured employee ... for identical periods of time and chargeable to the same employer. This language does not constitute a clear legislative statement as to retroactivity or to the period of time intended to be covered by the statute. Although it supplies some limitations as to when unemployment benefits qualify for the setoff, it says nothing about the period of time to which the setoff attaches. Where the Legislature has not stated any retrospective intention in clear and express language and the statute is ambiguous interpretation is required. See Karl, supra .
As a matter of statutory construction, statutes are presumed to operate prospectively unless the contrary intent is clearly manifested. Selk, supra, p 9, and cases cited therein. A retrospective law is one which takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing laws, or creates a new obligation and imposes a new duty, or attaches a disability with respect to transactions or considerations already past. Hughes, supra, p 85. Although a statute is not regarded as operating retrospectively merely because it relates to an antecedent event, as we have already observed, application of the provisions of § 358 to impose a disability, in the form of a setoff, upon the amount of workers' compensation time periods prior to the effective date of the legislation in question, is purely retroactive. Cf. Hughes, supra, p 85. The unemployment benefits at issue were received prior to the effective date of § 358. Although payments of the disability benefits were not made prior to January 1, 1982, because of the pendency of this appeal, the payments for the identical period of time as the unemployment payments involved were due and thus payable prior to the effective date of the statute. See MCL 418.801(1); MSA 17.237(801)(1). See also Selk, supra, p 8, and p 17, n 3, and accompanying text (LEVIN J., dissenting ). Workers' compensation benefits are geared to weekly wage loss. The weekly workers' compensation benefits at issue in this case became due over four years before the January 1, 1982 effective date of § 358. We therefore conclude that application of the statute to payments due for these periods would be purely retrospective.
An exception to the general rule is recognized where a statute is remedial or procedural in nature. Hansen-Snyder Co v General Motors Corp, 371 Mich 480; 124 NW2d 286 (1963). Thus, statutes which operate in furtherance of a remedy or mode of procedure and which neither create new rights nor destroy, enlarge, or diminish existing rights are generally held to operate retrospectively unless a contrary legislative intention is manifested. In Selk, we found the interest rate on overdue compensation payments related to a remedy or mode of procedure and was but an incident and not the essence of a right or liability. Selk, p 11. The issue in this case is distinguishable from that in Selk. In essence, interest is a payment for the use of someone else's money. As we noted in Selk, this is not a matter of substance going to the individual's right to compensation. Rather, it is a matter of procedure. Unlike the interest statute in Selk, the statute here in question may not be regarded as wholly procedural in character. Its effect, if applied, would result in taking from the plaintiff the substantive right to receipt of compensation payments which existed prior to enactment of § 358. Consequently, only a clear statement of legislative intent could justify retroactive application. [25] Nor are we persuaded that § 358 should be applied retroactively because it can be characterized as remedial. This Court has been reluctant to apply this exception without extensive exploration of legislative intent. See, e.g., Rookledge v Garwood, 340 Mich 444; 65 NW2d 785 (1954); Lahti v Fosterling, 357 Mich 578; 99 NW2d 490 (1959). We agree with the Court of Appeals that [w]hile § 358 is `remedial' in the sense that it was adopted to effect a reform which, in the eyes of many, will correct certain injustice in the system, [retroactive application would] also significantly and detrimentally affect the substantive right of certain injured employees to receipt of workers' compensation benefits. 122 Mich App 186. In addition, such a construction would appear to reward employers who are found to have incorrectly withheld payment of workers' compensation benefits and correspondingly penalize those who timely made such payments prior to January 1, 1982. We cannot attribute to the Legislature an intention to reward those in defendant's position. We find nothing to overcome the presumption that prospective operation only was intended, and therefore conclude that unemployment compensation paid for weekly periods before the January 1, 1982 effective date of § 358 is not deductible from workers' compensation benefits payable for the identical pre-1982 periods, but that weekly payments of workers' compensation that become due on or after January 1, 1982, are to be reduced by unemployment compensation benefits paid or payable for the same periods.