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Brown v. Michigan Health Care Corp.9/19/2000
Chief Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver
This is a worker 's compensation case in which the employer sought to take advantage of the limitation on its liability provided by the certification of plaintiff as vocationally handicapped under MCL 418.921; MSA 17.237(921). The Worker 's Compensation Appellate Commission and the Court of Appeals have concluded that the employer is not entitled to the benefit of that provision because the injured employee was not eligible for a vocationally handicapped certificate. We conclude that for the purposes of an employer's liability, the issuance of the vocationally handicapped certificate is controlling. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
I.
Chapter 9 of the Worker 's Compensation Disability Act contains the vocationally handicapped certification provisions. At the time applicable to this case, it defines a vocationally handicapped person as follows:
"Vocationally handicapped" means a person who has a medically certifiable impairment of the back or heart, or who is subject to epilepsy, or who has diabetes, and whose impairment is a substantial obstacle to employment, considering such factors as the person's age, education, training, experience, and employment rejection. [MCL 418.901(a); MSA 17.237(901)(a).]
The statute makes the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education responsible for the certification process. Section 905 governs the application for such a certificate:
An unemployed person who wishes to be certified as vocationally handicapped for purposes of this chapter shall apply to the certifying agency on forms furnished by the agency. The certifying agency shall conduct an investigation and shall issue a certificate to a person who meets the requirements for vocationally handicapped certification. The certificate is valid for 2 calendar years after the date of issuance. After expiration of a certificate an unemployed person may apply for a new certificate. A certificate is not valid with an employer by whom the person has been employed within 52 weeks before issuance of the certificate. [MCL 418.905; MSA 17.237(905).]
Section 921 specifies the liability of the employer and the Second Injury Fund for benefits as a result of an injury to a person holding a vocationally handicapped certificate:
A person certified as vocationally handicapped who receives a personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment and resulting in death or disability, shall be paid compensation in the manner and to the extent provided in this act, or in case of his death resulting from such injury, the compensation shall be paid to his dependents. The liability of the employer for payment of compensation, for furnishing medical care or for payment of expenses of the employee's last illness and burial as provided in this act shall be limited to those benefits accruing during the period of 52 weeks after the date of injury. Thereafter, all compensation and the cost of all medical care and expenses of the employee's last sickness and burial shall be the liability of the fund. The fund shall be liable, from the date of injury, for those vocational rehabilitation benefits provided in section 319. [MCL 418.921; MSA 17.237(921).]
II.
Plaintiff Luella Brown had suffered a work-related injury in 1978 while working for another employer, and received worker's compensation benefits until 1985. She then began doing volunteer work for defendant Michigan Health Care Corporation (MHCC), while also working as a housekeeper for two individuals. In April 1989, she applied for a housekeeping job with MHCC. Her applicat
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