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Sorlie v. Workforce Safety & Insurance4/29/2005
AFFIRMED.
[ ] Glenn W. Sorlie appealed from a district court judgment affirming a Workforce Safety and Insurance ("WSI") order denying him further disability benefits. We conclude Sorlie's procedural due process rights were not violated by WSI's retroactive notice of intention to discontinue benefits and WSI's decision to deny Sorlie further disability benefits is supported by a preponderance of the evidence. We affirm.
I.
[ ] On March 7, 2000, Sorlie injured his right shoulder, neck, and arm while employed as a welder with Bobcat/Ingersoll Rand ("Bobcat") in Bismarck. WSI accepted Sorlie's claim and paid him disability benefits from June 5, 2000, through October 17, 2000. On October 30, 2000, WSI issued an order denying further benefits on the ground that Sorlie's ongoing physical problems were the result of degenerative disc disease rather than the employment injury. Sorlie requested a formal hearing, after which WSI issued an order on July 9, 2001, concluding that Sorlie's cervical condition and degenerative disc disease were not causally related to his employment. After unsuccessfully petitioning for reconsideration, Sorlie appealed WSI's order to the district court. Meanwhile, Sorlie returned to work at Bobcat in a modified position for periods after October 2001. However, on September 5, 2002, before the district court had rendered its decision in his appeal, Sorlie was terminated from employment with Bobcat because he had been absent for three consecutive days without reporting the absences.
[ ] On January 20, 2003, the district court reversed WSI's decision. The court ruled "the greater weight of the evidence [establishes] that [Sorlie's] injuries are work related," and the court remanded the case to WSI "for purposes of establishing [Sorlie's] statutory benefits." WSI did not appeal from the district court's decision, but proceeded to calculate Sorlie's benefits after he provided WSI further information. Because temporary total disability benefits had been paid through mid-October 2000 and Sorlie returned to full-time work at Bobcat on February 25, 2002, WSI awarded benefits from October 21, 2000, to February 24, 2002, except for some periods in between during which Sorlie earned 90 percent of his pre-injury wages. On April 1, 2003, WSI paid Sorlie $19,011.92 in past-due disability benefits.
[ ] Also on April 1, 2003, WSI issued Sorlie a retroactive notice of intention to discontinue benefits as of February 25, 2002, because Sorlie had returned to full-time employment at Bobcat on that date. Sorlie argued his benefits should not be discontinued because he was then "unemployed and disabled from performing his regular employment duties." WSI issued an order denying further benefits on June 16, 2003, reasoning Sorlie had not shown any wage loss after February 24, 2002, because he had returned to full-time employment with Bobcat and was later terminated from employment for reasons unrelated to his injury. Sorlie demanded a formal hearing. Following the hearing, the administrative law judge ("ALJ") found: Sorlie was able to perform his modified duties at Bobcat after February 24, 2002; he was terminated "for reasons that have nothing to do with his disability"; and he did not make "a good faith work trial or work search" after his termination.
The ALJ concluded:
1. Subsection 65-05-08(6), N.D.C.C., provides that disability benefits must be paid for the period of disability provided that the employee shows that the inability to obtain employment or to earn as much as the employee earned at the time of injury is due to physical limitation related to the injury, and that any wage loss claimed is the result of the compensab
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