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Marriott International v. District of Columbia Department of Employment Services10/30/2003
Submitted September 9, 2003
Petitioner asks us to review a decision by the director of the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. The proceedings below arose from a claim for workers' compensation benefits filed by Dwayne Leigh against Marriott International under the District of Columbia Workers' Compensation Act of 1979, D.C. Code §§ 32-1501 et seq. (2001). Follow ing a formal hearing, the Administrative Law Judge declined to award benefits for continuing medical care, finding that Mr. Leigh's current medical condition is not causally connected to his work-related injury. On review, the director found that the ALJ's order was not supported by substantial evidence, reversed the ALJ's order denying benefits, and awarded benefits for continuing medical care. Marriott then sought our review pursuant to D.C. Code § 32-1522 (b)(3) (2001). Because we agree with petitioner that the director exceeded his permissible scope of review, we reverse and remand.
I.
A. Factual Background
Marriott International hired Dwayne Leigh in October of 2000 as a loss prevention and security officer, which required him to patrol the hallways of a Marriott hotel. In the course of his rounds, Mr. Leigh also distributed "folios," which contained bills for hotel services. This activity required Mr. Leigh to bend forward repeatedly to slip the folios under guest room doors.
On August 2, 2001, Mr. Leigh sustained injuries to his neck and lower back in an automobile accident unrelated to his employment with Marriott. These injuries prompted Mr. Leigh to seek the care of Dr. Roy Rosenthal, an orthopaedic physician, who advised Mr. Leigh to refrain from working until October 25, 2001. Thereafter, Mr. Leigh was free to return to "light duty" work that did not involve repetitive stooping or bending. Marriott accommodated Mr. Leigh's light duty needs by allowing him to return to sedentary activities. Shortly thereafter, however, Mr. Leigh resumed his regular duties, including patrolling the hallways and delivering folios.
On December 15, 2001, while bending forward to slip a folio under a guest room door, Mr. Leigh felt a sudden, severe recurrence of lower back pain similar in kind to the pain experienced after the automobile accident. As a result, Mr. Leigh sought the care of Dr. Rosenthal, who gave him a disability slip indicating that he could return to work without restriction on March 11, 2002. Mr. Leigh in fact returned to work on March 13, 2002. During consultations on April 15 and 23, Dr. Rosenthal continued to permit Mr. Leigh to perform his regular work duties, but indicated that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should be perform ed in order to help assess Mr. Leigh's continuing complaints of back pain. Mr. Leigh again met with Dr. Rosenthal on June 4, 2002, at which time Dr. Rosenthal recommended a period of "work hardening." It is unclear if any such program was undertaken.
On April 29, 2002, and at Marriott's request, Mr. Leigh was examined by Dr. David Johnson for purposes of an independent medical evaluation. After performing his own physical examination of Mr. Leigh, Dr. Johnson determined that the work incident of December 15 caused a temporary aggravation of the prior back injury. However, Dr. Johnson also determined that the aggravation already had resolved itself, and that Mr. Leigh's current symptoms "are more likely derived from the original non-work-related injury of 8/01 [the automobile accident] rather than the [work-related] incident of 12/15/01." Dr. Johnson later confirmed this conclusion in a report dated June 1, 2002, after having reviewed the full medical file from Dr. Rosenthal. Dr. Johnson did concur, however, w
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