Court Opinion

ID: 9558010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:01:41.471271+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:05.778350
License: Public Domain

IRWIN, Justice
(concurring specially).
Self-insured employers are specifically authorized by statute. 85 O.S.1971, § 61. In my opinion, under no theory of statutory construction could a self-insured employer come within the purview of 85 O.S.1971, § 65.2. The estoppel provisions of 85 O.S. 1971, § 65.2, are not applicable to self-insured employers by reason of Legislative enactment and not because of judicial decision.
When the questioned classification is the product of the Legislative decision making process and impinges on no fundamental constitutionally guaranteed rights, this Court is not free to examine the wisdom of the Legislature’s scheme of classification. Under such circumstances, the Court acts to void the Legislature’s statutory design only when the classification is without some rational basis.
The Legislature has sole power to include or exclude persons from statutory classification; the judiciary adjudicates the constitutionality of the Legislative inclusion or exclusion. The judiciary has no authority to include a self-insured employer in the class subject to § 65.2 where the Legislature has failed to do so merely because it may not agree with the reason for the distinction.