JUSTIN LOEW, Claimant
v.
MENARD, INC., Employer,
and
PRAETORIAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Insurance Carrier, Defendants.
No. 5057482
Iowa Workers Compensation
Before the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner
January 31, 2020
Head
Note Nos: 1108.50; 1402.40; 1802; 1803; 2501; 2502; 2907;
3002; 5-9998
APPEAL DECISION
JOSEPH
S. CORTESE, II WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER
Defendants
Menard, Inc., employer, and its insurer, Praetorian Insurance
Company, appeal from an arbitration decision filed on October
30, 2018. Claimant Justin Loew cross-appeals. The case was
heard on January 29, 2018, and it was considered fully
submitted in front of the deputy workers' compensation
commissioner on February 19, 2018.
The
deputy commissioner found claimant carried his burden of
proof to establish that the first surgery he underwent on
April 20, 2016, at the L5-S1 level of his low back on the
left, and the second surgery he underwent on February 1,
2017, at the L4-5 level of his low back on the right, were
both necessitated by the stipulated injury which occurred on
March 19, 2015, which arose out of and in the course of
claimant's employment with defendant-employer. The deputy
commissioner found claimant sustained 30 percent industrial
disability as a result of the work injury, which entitles
claimant to receive 150 weeks of permanent partial disability
(PPD) benefits, commencing on May 17, 2017. The deputy
commissioner found defendants are entitled to receive a total
credit in the amount of $6,262.82 against the award for PPD
benefits.
The
deputy commissioner found claimant is entitled to receive
additional healing period benefits from April 20, 2016,
through August 31, 2016, and from September 28, 2016, through
May 16, 2017.
The
deputy commissioner found that the instant profit sharing
(IPS) bonus received by claimant in February 2015 cannot
properly be included in the calculation of claimant's
gross average weekly wage for the work injury. The deputy
commissioner found claimant's correct gross average
weekly wage for the injury is $445.71, with the result that
claimant's correct weekly benefit rate for the injury is...