Bruton v. Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Bruton v. Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
The question presented in this case is whether an employee's claim for temporary total disability (TTD) benefits under the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Act can be offset by benefits paid to the employee for the same period of disability under the employer's self-funded, self-administered, short-term disability (STD) plan. The workers' compensation judge awarded TTD benefits to respondent-employee Claude Bruton (Bruton), but determined that relator-employer Smithfield Foods (Smithfield) was entitled to offset those benefits by the amount of STD benefits already paid. Then, because Smithfield had already paid STD benefits in essentially the same amount that would be owed as TTD benefits, the compensation judge dismissed Bruton's petition. The workers' compensation court of appeals reversed. Because there is no statutory authority for an offset of workers' compensation benefits by the amount of benefits paid under an employer's self-funded, self-administered STD plan, we affirm.
FACTS
The facts of this case are undisputed. On August 25, 2016, Bruton fell, dislocated his shoulder, and sustained facial lacerations while working for Smithfield. At the time of this injury, Smithfield maintained workers' compensation insurance through Safety National Casualty Corporation, with the claims administered by ESIS, Inc. Smithfield's policy has a $2 million deductible per claim. Smithfield also maintained an STD policy for its employees. The STD plan was administered by Smithfield's human resources department and was in the name of John Morrell Food Group, which is an entity related to Smithfield. The parties stipulated that Smithfield owns the funds held in this plan and administers the plan on behalf of its (and John Morrell's) employees. The parties also agreed that Smithfield's plan did not qualify as an ERISA plan. See, e.g. ,
Smithfield initially denied that Bruton suffered a work-related injury covered by workers' compensation benefits. But, Smithfield did not dispute that Bruton was disabled as a result of his injuries. Thus, Smithfield paid Bruton STD wage-loss benefits under its private plan, representing 80 percent of his weekly compensation from September 5, 2016 to March 26, 2017, totaling $12,419.90. During the same period, Smithfield also paid Bruton $2,030.48 *663for previously-accrued paid sick and vacation leave.
Bruton filed a petition for workers' compensation benefits on October 24, 2016. After Smithfield conducted an investigation, it filed an amended notice of primary liability that acknowledged Bruton's injuries were compensable and work-related under the Workers' Compensation Act. ESIS, Smithfield's workers' compensation insurer, began paying benefits, including TTD benefits, starting on March 27, 2017. ESIS also paid Bruton benefits retroactively, for the period during which workers' compensation liability was denied. For these retroactive payments, ESIS paid Bruton $636.52, which represented the difference between the STD benefits Smithfield had already paid (reduced for state and federal taxes), and the TTD benefits that Bruton would have received had Smithfield acknowledged workers' compensation liability at the outset.
At the hearing before the compensation judge, Smithfield maintained that, because it had already paid Bruton wage-loss benefits under its STD plan, it did not owe Bruton additional TTD wage-loss benefits. Smithfield asserted that an offset was necessary to avoid imposing a double liability on it and to avoid a double recovery by Bruton. Relying on public policy that disfavors a double recovery, the workers' compensation judge concluded that an offset in Bruton's TTD benefits was required based on the amount Smithfield had paid as STD benefits.
Bruton appealed to the WCCA, which reversed. Bruton v. Smithfield Foods, Inc. , No. WC17-6113,
ANALYSIS
We must decide whether the WCCA erred in determining that Smithfield is not entitled to offset its workers' compensation liability to Bruton by the amount of STD benefits it paid to Bruton.
*664The facts are undisputed. Thus, we must analyze the statutes that govern the employer's liability for wage-loss benefits within, and outside of, the workers' compensation system.
Workers' compensation benefits are a statutory remedy that entitles employees to compensation for work-related injuries. See Ransom v. Ford Motor Co. ,
Smithfield contends that by seeking payment of TTD benefits and STD benefits from the same source, Smithfield, Bruton seeks a double recovery of his wage-loss benefits. Put differently, Smithfield argues that it has already paid Bruton the TTD benefits he is entitled to through its self-administered STD benefits plan. Smithfield argues that "[w]hether the *665checks said 'Smithfield Foods' [from the STD plan] or 'ESIS' [for TTD benefits] on them should be of no significance whatsoever, in deciding whether [Bruton's claim] exceeds his compensation rate." Relying on the legislative intent to pay benefits to employees "at a reasonable cost to the employers,"
Wage-coordination provisions in the workers' compensation laws are generally intended to avoid duplication of wage-loss benefits. See Ruter v. Minn. Dep't of Corrs. ,
Pierce is distinguishable and not applicable here. In Pierce , the employee recovered TTD benefits from a settlement with an Alaska employer and later sought the same benefits for an injury "arising out of the same disabling condition" from a different employer in Minnesota. Id . at 761. Here, Bruton is not seeking TTD benefits from two different employers. Instead, Bruton seeks the TTD benefits to which he is entitled by statute, in addition to the STD benefits conferred, separately, by his employer. Thus, the question is whether Smithfield has a statutory right to reduce workers' compensation benefits otherwise payable by Smithfield simply because STD benefits have been paid through a self-funded, self-administered plan.
The Legislature has enacted provisions that provide employers with certain offset remedies, but those statutes are not applicable here. For example, an offset is allowed for "permanent total disability" benefits when "disability benefits [are] paid by any government disability benefit" plan for the same injury, or "any old age and survivor insurance benefits."
*666(internal quotation omitted)). Although there is strong public policy against double recovery of benefits, under these facts, there is nothing in
Smithfield concedes that no statute includes similar provisions for TTD benefits paid through an employer's private STD plan. Smithfield argues that the absence of explicit statutory language allowing for an offset or reimbursement in this situation is a "small legislative hole" in the act. This may be true. But, this hole may also be a deliberate legislative choice. See, e.g., Meils ex rel. Meils v. Nw. Bell Tel. Co. ,
We recognize Smithfield's concern that the employer is effectively penalized for maintaining an additional wage-loss benefit for its employees suffering a covered workers' compensation injury, and through this STD program, immediately paying benefits to its employee when an injury occurs. But in the absence of a legislative offset provision, we affirm the WCCA. If a different result is necessary or intended, the Legislature-not the Judiciary-must act. See Meils ,
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals.
Affirmed.
Concurring, Thissen, Anderson, JJ.
The sums paid for sick and vacation leave are not at issue in this appeal.
Smithfield asserts that the WCCA abused its discretion when it sua sponte questioned whether Smithfield and John Morrell are the same entity for purposes of this case, notwithstanding the parties' stipulated agreement on this point. Bruton agrees that the WCCA erred in disregarding the parties' stipulation. " '[T]he Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals' review is limited to the issues raised by the parties in the notice of appeal.' " Gianotti v. Indep. Sch. Dist. 152 ,
We need not address the WCCA's alternative statutory theories: that only certain entities are permitted by statute to pay workers' compensation benefits, that payments under an employer's self-administered disability plan are not wage-continuation payments, and that an intervention claim may have been available to Smithfield, through John Morrell. Smithfield does not contend that it is an entity authorized to administer workers' compensation benefits, or that the STD benefits paid to Bruton are wage-continuation payments, and agrees, as the WCCA later recognized, that an employer need not assert an intervention claim in a workers' compensation proceeding. Smithfield contends only that it has paid Bruton the amount owed as workers' compensation benefits and Bruton is entitled to no more than the amount of benefits provided by statute. As we can resolve this appeal without resort to the statutory theories on which the WCCA relied, we do not consider those theories here.
We have previously noted that an insurer may have a claim for reimbursement when benefits are paid in the absence of a contractual obligation to do so. See, e.g., Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y v. Bachrach ,
Although there is a right to reimbursement under
Concurring Opinion
CONCURRENCE
I concur in the result reached by the majority. Smithfield Foods (Smithfield) has not established a legal basis to offset workers' compensation benefits owed to its injured employee, Claude Bruton, by the amount of the short-term disability (STD) benefits it paid to Bruton.
Broad language in the majority opinion, however, suggests that a person may offset workers' compensation payments *667against specific types of disability benefits only if those benefits fall into a category of benefits expressly identified in the workers' compensation statute. I write separately to emphasize that our decision today need not and does not foreclose an employer from seeking in a workers' compensation proceeding reimbursement for STD benefits paid to an employee under a contract or STD policy that requires such reimbursement if the employee later recovers wage replacement workers' compensation benefits for the injury that caused the disability.
Minnesota Statutes § 176.361 allows a person to intervene in a workers' compensation proceeding if the person "has an interest" in a workers' compensation matter "such that the person may either gain or lose by a [workers' compensation] order or decision."
We need not reach the issue of whether an employer may assert a contractual offset claim based on short-term disability benefits paid to an employee in this case. Smithfield's STD Policy for employees like Bruton does not allow Smithfield to claw back STD benefits paid under the policy if workers' compensation benefits are paid. Paragraph 6 of the STD Policy limits Smithfield's contractual offset rights to government social insurance disability payments:
The Company will coordinate (offset) all STD benefit compensation available to an employee with State Disability, Social Security payments or similar programs to the extent such compensation is available, in whole or in part, due to the employee's Disability. Employees are required to apply for these benefits.
During argument, Smithfield conceded as much. Accordingly, because Smithfield has no contractual right to reimbursement out of workers' compensation benefits for short-term disability benefits previously paid to Bruton under the STD policy, the Smithfield claim for offset fails.
Concurring Opinion
I join in the concurrence of Justice Thissen.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Claude BRUTON v. SMITHFIELD FOODS, INC. and ESIS, Inc., Relators, and Mayo Clinic, Intervenor.
- Status
- Published