WILTON M. GRIEGER, DECEASED, BY JULIA GRIEGER, Employee/Appellant,
v.
MENARDS and PRAETORIAN INS. CO., admin’d by GALLAGHER BASSETT SERVS., INC., Employer-Insurer/Respondents.
No. WC18-6237
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals
April 29, 2019
DEPENDENCY
BENEFITS - CALCULATION. Where the compensation judge relied
on expert testimony regarding the number of hours normally
worked in the employment or industry in which the injury was
sustained as required by Minn. Stat. § 176.011, subd.
18, and that testimony is supported by other evidence, the
judge’s determination of the dependency benefit under
Minn. Stat. § 176.111, subd. 5, is supported by
substantial evidence.
David
H. Bailly, David H. Bailly, Ltd., Eden Prairie, Minnesota,
for the Appellant.
Timothy J. Manahan, Brown & Carlson, P.A., St. Louis
Park, Minnesota, for the Respondents.
Determined by: Deborah K. Sundquist, Judge, David A.
Stofferahn, Judge, Gary M. Hall, Judge.
Compensation Judge: William J. Marshall
Affirmed.
OPINION
DEBORAH K. SUNDQUIST, Judge.
For the
purpose of dependency benefits, an employee’s wage is
calculated by the number of hours typically worked in the
employment or industry in which the injury was sustained,
pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 176.011, subd. 18. The
employee’s dependent widow appeals the compensation
judge’s determination that the employee’s wage
was properly calculated using a 24 hour per week figure. As
the compensation judge’s determination regarding the
hours worked in the employment or industry is supported by
substantial evidence, including expert testimony, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Wilton
Grieger, the employee, retired at the age of 69. Thereafter,
he found a job as a part-time stock person for Menards, the
employer, where he worked an average of 20 to 21 hours a
week. While in the course and scope of employment on November
26, 2015, the employee, who was 81 years old, slipped and hit
his head resulting in a fatal injury. He was survived by his
spouse...
