Opinion ID: 2264450
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: issue two: the permanent partial disability reduction

Text: Mitchell was awarded 18 weeks of temporary total disability for injuries sustained to his right upper extremity. He also received a permanent partial disability award. Under the K.S.A. 44-510d(a)(13) schedule, an injured worker is typically awarded 225 weeks for the loss of the arm at the shoulder. In calculating Mitchell's permanent partial disability award, the Board first reduced the 225 weeks assigned under K.S.A. 44-510d(a)(13) by the 18 weeks of temporary total disability. Then, the Board multiplied the reduced weekly total by Mitchell's functional impairment rating. Mitchell argues it was improper to deduct the 18 weeks of temporary total disability. K.A.R. 51-7-8(b)(1) expressly provides for this deduction. But Mitchell argues a different interpretation to the regulation, citing the preceding section, K.A.R. 51-7-8(a)(1) to contend the regulation was misapplied. K.A.R. 51-7-8 states in relevant part: (a)(1) If a worker suffers a loss to a member and, in addition, suffers other injuries contributing to the temporary total disability, compensation for the temporary total disability shall not be deductible from the scheduled amount for those weeks of temporary total disability attributable to the other injuries. . . . . (b) If a healing period of 10% of the schedule or partial schedule is granted, not exceeding 15 weeks, it shall be added to the weeks on the schedule or partial schedule before the following computations are made. (1) If a loss of use occurs to a scheduled member of the body, compensation shall be computed as follows: (A) deduct the number of weeks of temporary total compensation from the schedule; (B) multiply the difference by the percent of loss or use to the member; and (C) multiply the result by the applicable weekly temporary total compensation rate. (Emphasis added.) Mitchell claims K.A.R. 51-7-8(a)(1) pertains to workers with both scheduled and nonscheduled injuries and that it prohibits the deduction of temporary total disability paid from a claimant's permanent partial disability award for the scheduled member. We agree the plain language of K.A.R. 51-7-8(a)(1) prohibits the deduction of temporary total disability from the permanent partial disability awardif the temporary total is caused by both a scheduled injury and some other injury. But these are not the facts in this case because all of Mitchell's injuries are scheduled. Mitchell's argument misses the relevant point that K.A.R. 51-7-8(b)(1) explicitly provides for the calculation employed in his case when a loss of use occurs to a scheduled member, which is what happened here. We find Mitchell's argument to be without merit under these facts. In the alternative, Mitchell argues K.A.R. 51-7-8 is void because allowing the deduction for temporary total disability paid contradicts K.S.A. 44-510c and K.S.A. 44-510d. The Mitchell panel upheld the Board's calculation, finding K.A.R. 51-7-8 was a valid regulation and the deduction of the temporary total disability weeks approved by previous case law, citing another Court of Appeals decision, Cowan v. Josten's American Yearbook Co., 8 Kan.App.2d 423, 427, 660 P.2d 78 (1983). Mitchell, 41 Kan.App.2d at 538-39, 203 P.3d 76. We note a second Court of Appeals panel addressed this issue in a later decision and adopted the same conclusion. Barbury v. Duckwall Alco Stores, 42 Kan. App.2d 693, Syl. ¶ 3, 215 P.3d 643 (2009). Regulations an administrative agency is authorized to adopt are presumed valid, and the party challenging a regulation bears the burden to establish its invalidity. In re Tax Appeal of City of Wichita, 277 Kan. 487, 495, 86 P.3d 513 (2004). It is undisputed the director of workers compensation is authorized to adopt regulations administering and enforcing the Act. K.S.A. 44-573 and K.S.A. 74-717. The only remaining issue then is whether the regulation is inconsistent with the relevant statutes. Because Mitchell received temporary total disability followed by an award for permanent partial disability, the relevant statutes are K.S.A. 44-510c and K.S.A. 44-510d. K.S.A. 44-510c governs compensation for temporary and permanent total disability. It states a claimant can only receive medical benefits during the first week the claimant is totally disabled, unless the claimant is disabled a minimum of 3 weeks. After the first week, weekly payments shall be made during such temporary total disability. K.S.A. 44-510c(b)(1). K.S.A. 44-510c(c) then states that the scheduled injury statute, K.S.A. 44-510d, governs when a permanent total or temporary total disability is followed by a permanent partial disability contained on the schedule. As discussed above, K.S.A. 44-510d governs compensation to injured workers who are permanently, but not totally, disabledif their injury appears on the schedule. It begins by restricting an injured worker to medical benefits during the first week of injury. Thereafter, compensation is to be paid according to the schedule, and the award is calculated using the statutorily provided formula. The statute then goes on to state disability is presumed to exist immediately after the injury if permanent disability is awarded and compensation is to be paid for not to exceed the number of weeks allowed in the following schedule.  (Emphasis added.) K.S.A. 44-510d(a). K.S.A. 44-510d(b) provides: Whenever the employee is entitled to compensation for a specific injury under the foregoing schedule, the same shall be exclusive of all other compensation except the [medical] benefits provided . . ., and no additional compensation shall be allowable or payable for any temporary or permanent, partial or total disability.  (Emphasis added.) The Barbury panel did a persuasive job of reconciling these statutes. It began by noting the injured worker clearly was entitled to temporary total disability under K.S.A. 44-510c, but that the statute directed the Board to K.S.A. 44-510d to calculate the award. The panel continued by explaining that K.S.A. 44-510d indicates the disability exists immediately following the injury. This suggests the number of weeks on the schedule encompasses the entire award for an injury to that scheduled member. Further, the panel reasoned the concluding statement in the statute that compensation is not to exceed the number of weeks on the schedule further emphasizes that the number of weeks contained on the schedule is designed to cover the entire award for an injury to a member, whether it is calculated as a total or a permanent award. 42 Kan.App.2d at 697, 215 P.3d 643. In Barbury, the injured worker received temporary total disability followed by permanent partial disability to his leg. The panel's analysis concluded: [T]he legislature has set an overall compensation limit for a scheduled injury to the leg of 200 weeks, part of which may have been provided as a temporary-total-disability compensation under K.S.A. 44-510c. Although K.S.A. 44-510c lets the employee receive temporary-total-disability compensation, it defers to K.S.A. 44-510d to determine compensation when a permanent scheduled injury follows a temporary total disability. And K.S.A. 44-510d explicitly provides that the compensation provided there `shall be exclusive of all other compensation' except medical benefits and amputation cases. 42 Kan.App.2d at 697, 215 P.3d 643. We find this reasoning logically follows the statutory language. K.A.R. 51-7-8 is in keeping with that reasoning. But Mitchell poses a final challenge to this view by urging this court to contrast these provisions with K.S.A. 44-510e, which establishes how an unscheduled permanent partial disability award is calculated. That provision requires the deduction of temporary total disability in the following calculation: (2) find the number of disability weeks payable by subtracting from 415 weeks the total number of weeks of temporary total disability compensation was paid, excluding the first 15 weeks of temporary total disability compensation that was paid, and multiplying the remainder by the percentage of permanent partial general disability as determined under this subsection [a]. K.S.A. 44-510e(a)(2). Admittedly, this is a very clear instruction, and the above analysis of K.S.A. 44-510c and K.S.A. 44-510d is more difficult. But as the Barbury panel considered, this distinction is not surprising based on the differences in these statutory schemes. 42 Kan.App.2d at 698, 215 P.3d 643. K.S.A. 44-510e provides detailed instructions on how to calculate general body disability awards, i.e., injuries not on the schedule. K.S.A. 44-510c and K.S.A. 44-510d do not. Without doubt, the legislature could have made the instructions for calculating a scheduled injury more explicit, but that does not alter the analysis suggesting the legislature intended deducting temporary total disability awards. As such, K.A.R. 51-7-8 does not violate the statutes. The Board did not err by reducing the number of weeks assigned for Mitchell's permanent partial disability award by the number of weeks of temporary total disability awarded.