MWCC NO. 97-12160-G-5281

GLORIA D. BOSTON                                                                                                                          CLAIMANT

vs.

KUHLMAN ELECTRIC CO.                                                                                                              EMPLOYER
AND
THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY                                                                                     CARRIER

APPEARING FOR CLAIMANT:
Honorable Roger K. Doolittle, Attorney at Law, Jackson, Mississippi

APPEARING FOR DEFENDANTS:
Honorable Richard M. Edmonson, Attorney at Law, Jackson, Mississippi
 

The Commission heard the above styled cause on August 7, 2000 in the offices of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission in Jackson, Mississippi on "Employer/Carrier's Petition for Review ofDecision of Administrative Judge" and Claimant's "Cross-Appeal and Request for Review by Full Commission".

Having heard the arguments offered on behalf of the parties and having thoroughly studied the record and the applicable law, the Commission affirms the "Amended Order of Administrative Judge" dated January 21, 2000.

SO ORDERED, this the 9th day of August, 2000.

MISSISSIEPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
BY: Barrett Smith
Barney Schoby
COMMISSIONERS

ATTEST:
Joann McDonald
___________________________
 

MWCC No. 97 12160-G-5281

GLORIA D. BOSTON                                                                                                                       CLAIMANT

vs.

KUHLMAN ELECTRIC CO.                                                                                                           EMPLOYER
AND
THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY                                                                                  CARRIER

APPEARING FOR CLAIMANT:
Honorable Roger K. Doolittle, Attorney at Law, Jackson, Mississippi

APPEARING FOR DEFENDANTS:
Honorable Richard M. Edmonson, Jr., Attorney at Law, Jackson, Mississippi
 

On or about May 12, 1997, claimant developed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome in the course of her employment as an assembly line worker. The employer and carrier paid claimant medical benefits, temporary total disability benefits, and permanent partial disability benefits for the 10% medical impairment ratings assessed by her primary treating physician, Dr. Shelby Brantley. The only issue to be resolved is the extent to which claimant has an industrial loss of use of her right and left arms in excess of her medical impairment ratings.
 

1. Claimant's average weekly wage on May 12, 1997 was $437.14.

2. Claimant reached maximum medical improvement from the injury to her right arm on November 10, 1997.

3. Claimant reached maximum medical improvement from the injury to her left arm on July 30,1998.
 

The issue is the extent of claimant's industrial loss of use of her right and left arms as a result of the work-connected injury on May 12, 1997.
 

Claimant is a 48-year-old resident of Crystal Springs, Mississippi. She has a high school education and no vocational training. She has work experience as a shirt factory worker folding shirts and as an assembly line worker for General Electric. She also worked as a teacher's aide and as a stock clerk.

For the past fourteen and a half years, she has been employed by Kuhlman Electric company. She first worked in the core department lifting steel sheets which were seven feet long and twelve to fifteen inches wide. Claimant testified she lifted more than one sheet at a time, that the sheets weighed more than twenty pounds, and that she worked on production. In 1986, claimant was laid off for nine months. She was called back to work for the employer as an industrial janitor. This job required her to empty 55-gallon drums which weighed more than fifty pounds. Claimant then bid for and received a transfer to the wood department where she cut wood for transformers. She testified that each piece of wood weighed from fifteen to twenty-five pounds.

She also testified that she was performing this job when she first developed carpal tunnel syndrome. She ultimately underwent surgery on her right arm for carpal tunnel syndrome. On November 10, 1997, she reached maximum medical recovery from the injury to her right arm. She returned to work in the wood department, but her right upper arm began to hurt.

Claimant also developed carpal tunnel syndrome in her left arm which required surgery. On July 30, 1998, she reached maximum medical recovery from the injury to her left arm. Claimant testified that although she had worked as backup engraver, a light duty job in the wood department, before her second surgery, the employer assigned her to the wood room when she returned to work in September 1998. Claimant told the employer that she could not work in the wood room because of additional restrictions assigned by Dr. Brantley after her second surgery. The employer therefore sent her home. She then contacted Dr. Brantley to determine whether her restrictions were permanent. When Dr. Brantley told her that the restrictions were permanent, she relayed this information to the employer. At the end of the week, the employer called her back to work as an engraver and paid her for the week.

Claimant testified that Kuhlman Electric Company is a union shop, and that she bumped a less senior employee when she took the position as an engraver. She also testified that she engraves name plates for transformers by pushing a button on a machine, and that she still has pain, numbness and tingling although her job is very light. She further testified that the engraving job is crucial to the employees operation, that this job existed before her injury, and that it is a permanent job. Job descriptions formulated by the employer for claimant's former job as a wood worker and for her purrent job as an engraver are marked Exhibits 2 and 3 respectively.

Claimant testified she generally works from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and occasional overtime if available. She testified she has not missed work because of her hands since returning to work, that she does not work outside her restrictions, and that she now makes more money than on the date of injury because she receives regular pay raises per the union contract. She also testified that the week before her evidentiary hearing, her supervisor told her that she would begin pulling parts the following Monday because she had stated in her deposition that she did not have enough to do. Her supervisor also told her to let them know if she "picked up anything too heavy." Claimant testified she did not have any experience or training in performing this new task.

Claimant testified she last saw Dr. Brantley in April 1999, and that he resthcted her from lifting more than 25 pounds. Dr. Brantley also suggested she wear whst splints and avoid vibratory tools and wrist flexion. Claimant testified that she wears splints when she helps "pull the panel on and off"and at home when cooking and lifting. Claimant testified that she is familiar with the other jobs in her plant, and that her restrictions preclude her from performing any other jobs in the plant. She also testified that her restrictions preclude her from returning to any of her past relevant employments, except for her work as a teacher's aide.

Exhibit 1 is the record of Dr. Shelby Brantley regarding his treatment of claimant for bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. Dr. Brantley performed carpal tunnel releases on claimant's right and left wrists. He assessed a 10% permanent impairment rating to both upper extremities. On October 29, 1998, Dr. Brantley noted that claimant had returned to light duty making name plates, that her hands "fe[lt] pretty good," and that she no longer had problems with numbness and tingling. He recommended that she avoid lifting more than 25 pounds, that she wear wrist splints, and that she avid repetitive wrist flexion and the use of vibratory tools.
 

1. Considehng (1) the nature of claimant's medical impairment to her right and left arms; (2) the impairment ratings and restrictions assessed by her primary treating physician, Dr. Shelby Brantley; (3) claimant's continued employment as an engraver for the employer with no actual loss of wages for more than one year; (4) the employer's status as a union shop; (5) claimant's incapacity to discharge the duties she has performed for the employer for the past fourteen and a half years; (6) and her incapacity to perform any of her past relevant work for her prior employers, with the exception of her work as a teacher's aide, among other industrially related factors such as her age, education and geographic location, this Administrative Judge finds she has a 50% industrial loss of use of her right arm and a 50% industhal loss of use of her left arm attributable to the work-connected injury on or about May 12, 1997.

2. Claimant is entitled to (a) permanent partial disability benefits for the injury to her right arm in the amount of $270.67 per week for 100 weeks beginning November 10, 1977, with proper credit for compensation paid by the employer during this period, and (b) permanent partial disability benefits for the injury to her left arm in the amount of $270.67 per week for 100 weeks beginning July 30, 1998, with proper credit for compemsation paid by the employer during this period, said awards to run consecutively.

3. Claimant is entitled to all medical services and supplies required by the nature of her injury and the process of her recovery as provided in Section 71-3-15 and the Medical Fee Schedule.

4. Claimant is entitled to a 10% penalty on any untimely paid installments of compensation pursuant to Section 71-3-37 (5).
 

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that employer and carder pay compensation benefits to claimant as follows:

1. (a) permanent partial disability benefits for the injury to her right arm in the amount of $270.67 per week for 100 weeks beginning November 10, 1997, with proper credit for compensation paid by the employer during this period, and (b) permanent partial disability benefits for the injury to her left arm in the amount of $270.67 per week for 100 weeks beginning July 30, 1998, with proper credit for compensation paid by the employer during this period, said awards to run consecutively;

2. all medical services and supplies required by the nature of her injury and the process of her recovery as provided in Section 71-3-15 and the Medical Fee Schedule; and

3. a 10% penalty on any untimely paid installments of compensation pursuant to Section 71-3-37(5).

SO ORDERED this the 18th day of January, 2000.

DENEISE TURNER LOTT
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE

ATTEST:
Brenda H. Goolsby, Secretary