sharyn-hartwig-relator-v-traverse-care-center-and-minnesota-counties ( 2014 )

STATE OF MINNESOTA
IN SUPREME COURT
A14-0090
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals Page, J.
Sharyn Hartwig,
Relator,
vs. Filed: August 13, 2014
Office of Appellate Courts
Traverse Care Center and Minnesota
Counties Intergovernmental Trust,
Respondents,
Continental Life Insurance, Midway Medical
Clinic/Steven P. Radjenovich, D. O.,
Heartland Orthopedic Specialists,
Intervenors.
________________________
DeAnna M. McCashin, Schoep & McCashin, Chtd., Alexandria, Minnesota, for relator.
Timothy P. Jung, David M. Bateson, Peter D. Stiteler, Lind, Jensen, Sullivan & Peterson,
P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota, for respondents.
Susan L. Naughton, League of Minnesota Cities, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for amici curiae
League of Minnesota Cities, Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota Association
of Townships, and Hennepin County.
Charlene K. Feenstra, Kalli M. Bennett, Heacox, Hartman, Koshmrl, Cosgriff & Johnson,
P.A., Saint Paul, Minnesota, for amicus curiae Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance
Association.
________________________
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SYLLABUS
The phrase “old age and survivor insurance benefits,” as used in Minn. Stat.
§ 176.101, subd. 4 (2012), refers to social security benefits under the Social Security Act,
42 U.S.C. §§ 401-34 (2012).
Reversed and remanded.
OPINION
PAGE, Justice.
Relator Sharyn Hartwig was a certified nursing assistant employed by respondent
Traverse Care Center (Traverse) when she sustained various work-related injuries
between September 4, 2005, and May 5, 2010. Hartwig has been permanently and totally
disabled since May 5, 2010, and has been receiving workers’ compensation benefits since
that date. Hartwig began receiving a retirement annuity from the Public Employees
Retirement Association (PERA) on August 1, 2012. See generally Minn. Stat. ch. 353
(2012). She has not applied for or received any disability benefits from PERA. At some
point, Hartwig began receiving federal social security retirement benefits. The statute
provides that once Traverse paid $25,000 in permanent total disability benefits, Traverse
was entitled, under Minn. Stat. § 176.101, subd. 4 (2012), to offset Hartwig’s permanent
total disability benefits by the amount of her social security retirement benefits. The
$25,000 offset trigger was reached on March 8, 2011.
The parties disagreed, however, as to whether Traverse was entitled to apply the
subdivision 4 offset to Hartwig’s PERA retirement benefits. Hartwig therefore filed a
petition to challenge Traverse’s right to apply the subdivision 4 offset to her PERA
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retirement benefits. Without holding a hearing, the compensation judge granted Traverse
the offset. The compensation judge concluded that public employee retirement benefits
are within the meaning of “government disability benefits,” as that term is defined in
Minn. R. 5222.0100, subp. 4 (2013) (emphasis added).1
The WCCA disagreed with the compensation judge’s interpretation of Minn. R.
5222.0100, subp. 4, but nonetheless affirmed. Hartwig v. Traverse Care Ctr. & Minn.
Cntys. Intergovernmental Trust, 2013 WL 7017758, at *2, *5 (Minn. WCCA Dec. 23,
2013). The WCCA concluded based, in part, on its past decisions allowing an offset for
public employee retirement benefits, that Hartwig’s PERA retirement annuity was an
“old age and survivor insurance benefit[ ].” Id. at *4-5 (citing Kramer v. City of St. Paul,
33 Minn. Workers’ Comp. Dec. 425 (WCCA 1981), Wicks v. City of S. St. Paul, 1988
WL 216735 (Minn. WCCA Nov. 18, 1988), and Adamski v. Kenneth Setterholm’s Farm,
58 Minn. Workers’ Comp. Dec. 119, 121 (WCCA 1998)).
Before us, Hartwig argues, as did the employee in Ekdahl v. Independent School
District #213, __ N.W.2d __, A14-0089 (Minn. August 13, 2014), that Minn. Stat.
§ 176.101, subd. 4, does not permit permanent total disability benefits to be offset by
public employee pension benefits. In Ekdahl, we held that the term “old age and survivor
insurance benefits,” as used in Minn. Stat. § 176.101, subd. 4, refers only to federal social
1
Minnesota Rule 5222.0100, subpart 4, provides: “ ‘Government disability
benefits’ means disability benefits paid by any government disability program within the
meaning of Minnesota Statutes, section 176.101, subdivision 4. It includes, but is not
limited to, social security disability benefits, old age and survivor benefits, fire relief
association benefits, police relief association benefits, and public employee’s retirement
benefits.” Minn. R. 5222.0100, subp. 4 (2013).
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security benefits received by an injured worker pursuant to the Social Security Act, 42
U.S.C. §§ 401-34 (2012), and not to government-service pension benefits. As a result,
we held that the offset in Minn. Stat. § 176.101, subd. 4, for “old age and survivor
insurance benefits” does not apply to an employee’s non-social security pension benefits.
Because Ekdahl controls our decision here, we reverse and remand to the WCCA for
further proceedings consistent with this opinion.2
Reversed and remanded.
2
Like Ekdahl, Hartwig raises an equal protection claim. For the same reasons we
did not address Ekdahl’s constitutional claim, we do not address Hartwig’s constitutional
claim.
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