No. 02311393 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Rebecca Skalski.

• Case Date: May 06, 1999
• Court: Massachusetts

Massachusetts Workers Compensation 1999. No. 02311393 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Rebecca Skalski COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS EMPLOYEE: Rebecca Skalski EMPLOYER: Phoenix Home Life INSURER: Aetna Life and CasualtyBOARD NO. 02311393REVIEWING BOARD DECISION (Judges Levine, Maze-Rothstein and Carroll)APPEARANCES Thomas H. O'Neill, Esq., for the employee Peter J. Moran, for the insurer LEVINE, J. The employee and the insurer both appeal the decision of an administrative judge affirming a prior hearing decision, which awarded G. L. c. 152, § 34, weekly temporary total incapacity benefits, but which denied the employee's new claim for § 34A permanent and total incapacity benefits. The employee's contentions include that the judge's finding of no ongoing causal relationship between her industrial injury and present incapacity is arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law. The insurer argues that the judge erred in failing to allow the insurer's complaint to discontinue benefits as of the date of the § 11A impartial examination. We summarily affirm the judge's decision as it pertains to the employee's appeal, but we reverse the decision with respect to the date of termination of § 34 benefits. The employee was a claims reviewer for Phoenix Home Life when, in 1993, she began to experience pain in her back, arms, hands and shoulders. (Dec. II, 1 2.) She filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits, and a hearing was held on July 14, 1994. (Dec. I, 1.) Based on the opinion of the § 11A impartial examiner, the administrative judge found that the repetitive work the employee performed at her job aggravated her pre-existing condition of fibromyalgia to the point of disability and he awarded ongoing § 34 benefits for temporary total incapacity. (Dec. I, 5-7.) The insurer appealed the hearing decision, and the reviewing board recommitted the case to the administrative judge for a determination of whether the industrial injury "remains" a major cause of the employee's disability under § 1(7A). 2 Skalski v. Phoenix Home Life, 10 Mass. Workers' Comp. Rep. 376, 377-378 (1996). Prior to the issuance of the aforesaid recommittal decision, the insurer filed a complaint to discontinue benefits, which was denied at conference. The insurer appealed to a hearing de novo. The employee's § 34 benefits were due to...