No. 00953297 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Arnold Chinetti.

• Case Date: October 25, 1999
• Court: Massachusetts

Massachusetts Workers Compensation 1999. No. 00953297 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Arnold Chinetti COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS EMPLOYEE: Arnold Chinetti EMPLOYER: Boston Edison Company INSURER: Liberty Mutual Insurance CompanyBOARD NO. 00953297REVIEWING BOARD DECISION (Judges Maze-Rothstein, Carroll and Levine)APPEARANCES Michael J. Powell Jr., Esq., for the employee Dennis M. Maher, Esq., for the insurer MAZE-ROTHSTEIN, J. The insurer's appeal presents the following question: when an employee has accepted an early retirement package from his employer is he still entitled to weekly incapacity benefits under the Act. We hold that voluntary retirement does not bar an employee from receiving weekly workers' compensation benefits where an industrial injury caused the retirement. Arnold Chinetti, who was sixty-three years old at the time of hearing, injured his left knee on June 21, 1967 stepping off the back of a truck while working as a "lamp man" for Boston Edison. Lamp men use bucket and/or ladder trucks to repair and replace street fixtures. Mr. Chinetti subsequently underwent surgery to remove torn cartilage. He was out of work for approximately three months during which he received workers' compensation benefits. Thereafter, he returned to full duty although his knee continued to be intermittently painful, particularly when kneeling. (Dec. 3-4.) In 1989, after experiencing swelling, increased pain, problems with kneeling and squatting and difficulty climbing in and out of the bucket at work, the employee sought medical treatment and ultimately underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He remained out of work for two months following the surgery and was again paid workers' compensation benefits. Upon returning to work he felt his knee had improved over its pre-surgery condition, but he still had pain in certain weather conditions and getting in and out of his work bucket continued to be difficult. (Dec. 4.) Around April of 1995, Mr. Chinetti had episodes of increased left knee swelling. He also started having trouble walking, kneeling and squatting. Around the same time, in May of 1995, a revision of the collective bargaining agreement governing his work changed his job specifications, so that he was now required to handle and replace large streetlight fixtures. 1 (Dec. 4.) Over the course of the...