 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
[T] Burger King/Ameriking v. Labor and Industry Review Commission9/3/2003
. This appeal arises from a worker's compensation claim. Burger King/Ameriking and Ace American Insurance Company, c/o Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. (Burger King), appeal a judgment affirming the Labor and Industry Review Commission's disability benefits award to Burger King's former employee, Grace Buchholz, for a work-related back injury. Burger King argues that the commission erred as a matter of law by finding a work-related injury occurred on April 19, 2001, and erroneously awarded temporary disability benefits. Burger King further contends that the commission erroneously permitted Buchholz to maintain a claim for loss of earning capacity when she voluntarily chose not to return to work. In addition, Burger King claims that the commission erroneously found that Buchholz sustained a 4% permanent partial disability. We reject these arguments and affirm the judgment.
BACKGROUND
. The record discloses that Buchholz, born December 14, 1915, began working at Burger King when she was eighty years old. Her previous jobs included housekeeping for ranchers out west, farm work, factory work during World War II and food service at a university. Although she retired at age sixty-two, after her husband passed away in 1992 she "just didn't like sitting around because I had been busy all my life." In 1995, when she saw that Burger King needed help, she obtained a part-time position as a hostess. She testified they were happy to hire her, telling her that their experience was that older workers were more reliable than younger ones.
. Initially, Buchholz's hostess duties included clearing tables and keeping the dining room clean. Before long, these duties expanded to "all kinds of work" including "bathrooms, garbage cans, sweeping and mopping the floors, cleaning furniture, cleaning walls in the bathroom," making coffee and maintaining supplies in the dining room. She occasionally shoveled snow away from doorways, refilled containers and generally cleaned. Buchholz stated that she enjoyed her job very much and got along well with her co-workers.
. In January 2001, after working at Burger King for over five years, Buchholz injured her back while emptying garbage. She stated that she was pulling a garbage bag that weighed approximately fifty pounds out of a can when she "got a sharp pain right down the middle lower middle part of my back it just cut like I broke a bone or something." She immediately told her supervisor, who gave her $10 to take a taxi to St. Michael's Hospital. A diagnostic imaging report noted "marked degenerative changes" in the lumbar spine, but no fracture or other acute abnormality. Physical therapy for low back pain was prescribed.
. Buchholz obtained treatment at the Ford Chiropratic Clinic, S.C. Her January 10, 2001, diagnosis was "severe lumbosacral sprain/strain injury; right sacroiliac joint subluxation; right L5 radiculopathy; myalgia and myositis." Buchholz was off work and under doctor's care for a number of months. On April 11, 2001, Ford noted that Buchholz continued to experience pain and spasm, but because she was showing some signs of improvement, "we may try to return the patient to work on 4/19/01." Ford's medical notes of April 13 and 18 stated that he wanted her to try to return to work and "see how the patient tolerates it and further decision to be made at that time."
. On April 19, 2001, Buchholz returned to work. She testified that when she was emptying trash bags from the bathroom, "I picked them up and was taking them out to the kitchen and I over lifted them and did the same thing all over again to my back, the lower part where it had been hurt before." She stated that "It was the same thing. I had
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|