Matter of Ingersoll-Rand Company, Employer
No. G1615721
New York Workers Compensation
November 8, 2019
Date
of Accident: 12/19/2016
Issue:
Classification: loss of wage earning capacity market
District
Office: Buffalo
Carrier:
Charter Oak Fire Ins Co Carrier ID No.: W054001 Carrier Case
No.: E7M3555
Claimant's Attorney: Connors and Ferris, LLP
Panel:
Clarissa M. Rodriguez
MANDATORY FULL BOARD REVIEW FULL BOARD MEMORANDUM OF
DECISION
The
Full Board, at its meeting on October 8, 2019, considered the
above captioned case for Mandatory Full Board Review of the
Board Panel Memorandum of Decision filed March 28, 2019.
ISSUE
The
issue presented for Mandatory Full Board Review is
claimant's loss of wage-earning capacity (LWEC (loss of
wage-earning capacity)).
The
Workers' Compensation Law Judge (WCLJ (Workers'
Compensation Law Judge)) classified the claimant as having a
permanent partial disability with an 80% LWEC.
The
unanimous Board Panel modified the WCLJ decision to find that
the claimant has a 70% LWEC.
The
claimant filed an application for Full Board Review on April
29, 2019, arguing that he should be found to have an 80% LWEC
based on his vocational and medical factors.
The
carrier filed a rebuttal on May 17, 2019, arguing that the
Board Panel decision contained no errors of fact or law and
should be affirmed in its entirety.
Pursuant
to Workers' Compensation Law (WCL (Workers'
Compensation Law)) § 23, Full Board Review is Mandatory
in this matter because the Board Panel reduced the
claimant's LWEC below the safety net threshold pursuant
to WCL § 35(3).
Upon
review, the Full Board votes to adopt the following findings
and conclusions.
FACTS
This
claim has been established for a work-related injury to the
claimant's low back that occurred on December 19, 2016,
and amended to include consequential depression. The average
weekly wage was set at $1,170.20.
Dr.
Luzi, the carrier's consulting orthopedic surgeon,
examined the claimant on January 3, 2018. In his IME-4
(Independent Examiner's Report of Independent Medical
Examination), Dr. Luzi noted that claimant reported that he
continued to have back pain radiating down his left leg to
the foot, numbness and tingling down the left leg, he
preferred to stand or walk, prolonged sitting bothered him,
he only drives short...
