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Wright v. Philip Electronics North America12/6/1996
cert. denied, 269 Md. 755 (1973); see also 1C Arthur Larson, Larson's Workmen's Compensation Law § 57.47 (1996, May 1996 Cum. Supp.) (stating that a credit for wage payments made previous to a compensation award should be credited based on the number of weeks in which compensation was paid).
Appellees attack the "weekly credit" approach by arguing that it unjustly enriches Wright by providing her with more money than the Commission's final compensation order. Appellees' argument, however, ignores the Act's compensatory purpose.
This Court recognizes that the "weekly credit" approach could be viewed as illogical in that it may compensate employees slightly more than a revised compensation order. This Court and the Court of Appeals, however, have learned to live with these sometimes illogical results as long as the policies of the Act are simultaneously carried out. See Subsequent Injury Fund v. Teneyck, 317 Md. 626, 636 n.6, 566 A.2d 94 (1989). As Gilbert and Humphreys observe:
The authors are cognizant the statutory scheme has some "cracks" through which claimants may fall, resulting in low or higher awards than may have been contemplated by the legislature. As long as the statutory plan is observed, however, the spirit and intent of the Act are fulfilled.
Gilbert, supra, § 2.1, at 18 n.1. Simply put, our duty is to "construe the [Workers' Compensation] Act, not to revise it," Bata Shoe Co. v. Chvojan, 188 Md. 153, 159, 52 A.2d 105 (1947).
In this case, the policy and "spirit" of the Act are carried out by the application of the "weekly credit" approach. The logic of applying the "weekly credit" approach becomes even more clear when it is compared directly with appellees' "dollar credit" approach.
B.
The "dollar credit" is inapposite to the workings of the Act. It operates from a starting premise that compensation benefits are fixed awards of money, i.e. civil judgments, and not compensation payments intended to be paid out over the course of the calculated benefits period. The "dollar credit" approach does not accurately fit into the Act's weekly benefits structure. Accordingly, when applied, the "dollar credit" approach results in benefit amounts that are inconsistent with existing laws and policies.
The Commission's award of compensation benefits is a legal promise enforceable by law, i.e. a contract. Cooper v. Wicomico, 278 Md. 596, 599-600, 366 A.2d 55 (1976); see also State Industrial Commission v. Nordenholt Corp., 259 U.S. 263, 271, 66 L. Ed. 933, 42 S. Ct. 473 (1922) (discussing an employer's duty to pay workers' compensation benefits in terms of a contractual obligation). Thus, under a workers' compensation award, the employer is legally obligated to pay the employee a certain amount of compensation over a fixed period of weeks.
A "dollar credit" approach, however, changes the terms of the contract by retroactively shortening the length of time that a claimant will receive compensation. The shortening of the contractual compensation benefits period punishes employees, runs afoul of the Act's primary purpose in providing for day to day expenses, and breaches the employer's contractual obligation.
In this case, the contract between Wright and appellees was for 200 payments of $144. This is different than contracting to pay $28,880. Appellees' attempts to equate one with the other allows them to avoid a contractual obligation. The practical effect of this result would leave Wright with a fifty-three week period during which she would receive no compensation.
This sort of retroactive accounting and contractual manipulation is not permitted under the Act. See St.
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