Court Opinion

ID: 9662016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:57:17.104779+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:35.962828
License: Public Domain

SCOTT, Justice,
Dissenting.
Lucy Keith was born in 1932 and was employed by Hopple Plastics as an assembler for her entire working life. At the time of the injury that ended her career, she was 68 years old, earning $475.60 per week, and planning to continue in her job for another four to five years. That ended with her injury. Unable to continue to perform her job, she retired and began to collect $230.50 per week ($922.00 per month) in social security retirement benefits plus $33.28 per week for her disability. Simply stated, the injury prevented her from earning an income on which she could live and left her with combined benefits on which she could not. Worse yet, although KRS 342.730(l)(b) and (d) provide for 425 weeks of partial disability benefits, KRS 342.730(4) limited Lucy to 27.57 weeks because she was eligible for social security retirement. Convinced that KRS 342.730(4) denies her equal protection, I would hold that KRS 342.730(4) is unconstitutional and reverse.
The majority’s reason for approving KRS 342.730(4) under the rational basis test is that it avoids a duplication of equivalent benefits and that total and partial disability benefits are the same. Its rationale fails to confront the actual purpose for KRS 342.730(4), which is to save money for employers. Not only does the state have *469no legitimate interest in doing so by depriving elderly workers who are partially disabled of workers’ compensation benefits based solely on their eligibility for social security retirement, the two types of benefits are not equivalent.
The majority has equated workers’ compensation benefits with social security retirement benefits. Granted, there are some similarities. However, as the dissent in McDowell v. Jackson Energy RECC, 84 S.W.3d 71, 79 (Ky.2002), correctly pointed out, the rationale and source of funding for the two programs belie their overlap. So does the basis for calculating benefits.
Workers’ compensation is employer-funded, placing on industry the cost of the injuries it causes and providing it with an incentive to promote workplace safety. Benefits compensate a worker for a reduction in earning capacity due to an injury at a rate that is commensurate with the resulting disability. As defined in KRS 342.0011(1l)(b), a partially disabled worker remains able to work. The partial disability benefit calculation in KRS 342.730(l)(b) and (c) takes into account that some partially disabled workers like Lucy will never again be able to perform the type of work they performed at the time of their injury or to earn as much as they did at that time. Also accounting for the reality that some partially disabled workers are able to return to work and earn the same or greater wage, it encourages a return to employment by permitting such workers to collect a lesser benefit but providing for a greater benefit during periods that they are unable earn the same or greater wage.
Although the social security program is mandatory for factory workers such as Lucy, it does not include all workers who are covered by Chapter 342. Participating employers contribute to social security retirement, but it is a benefit that a worker earns and to which the worker contributes. It provides income for elderly workers without regard to disability, in an amount based on the value of the contributions to the worker’s account and the age at which the worker starts to draw benefits. Eligibility for normal benefits is based on having achieved a designated age and having made at least the minimum number of contributions. The longer an individual continues to work and contribute to their account, the greater their monthly benefit will be.
The apparent purpose of social security retirement has changed over the years. Its initial purpose was to provide income for workers over 65, who were near the end of their life expectancy. They were likely to be unable to work due to advancing age and failing health, and the benefit prevented them from becoming dependent on the public. In 2002, when KRS 342.730(4) terminated Lucy’s partial disability award, life expectancies were much longer. The Social Security Act permitted workers who were 65 or older to receive their full benefit and continue to work, thereby encouraging them to remain in the workforce. See McDowell v. Jackson Energy RECC, 84 S.W.3d at 77. Therefore, the benefit became more of a return on investment or contractual benefit than a social welfare benefit. Id.
Many individuals who have participated in the social security program now choose to work beyond the normal retirement age. Like Lucy, many must do so because their social security retirement benefit alone is inadequate for their essential needs. The principles of requiring industry rather than the public to bear the cost of industrial injuries and providing employers with an incentive to promote workplace safety apply no less to such workers than they do to workers who are ineligible for social security retirement. Equal protection demands that they be treated the same. *470$33.28 a week is not much compared to the $475.00 a week she earned prior to her injury; nor is it a fair substitute for her lifelong loyalty to her job and employer. Yet, it’s all she got — and KRS 342.730(4) took it away.
I dissent for Lucy Keith.
LAMBERT, C.J., and GRAVES, J., join this dissent.