CAROLYN SULLIVAN Applicant
COLONY BRANDS INC Employer
SENTRY CASUALTY CO Insurer
Claim No. 2017-017998
Wisconsin Workers Compensation
State of Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission
April 9, 2019
Attorney Karl A. VanDeHey
WORKER’S COMPENSATION DECISION
[1]
DAVID
B. FALSTAD, CHAIRPERSON
Order
The
commission affirms in part and reverses in
part the decision of the administrative law judge
(ALJ). Accordingly, within 30 days from this date, Colony
Brands, Inc. and Sentry Casualty Company (respondents) shall
reimburse the applicant for medical expenses she previously
paid in the amount of Four Thousand Four Hundred Twenty-Seven
dollars and Seven cents ($4,427.07), and for medical mileage
expense she incurred in the amount of Ninety-Two dollars and
Fifty-Seven cents ($92.57).
Also
within 30 days from this date, respondents shall reimburse
the third-party insurer, Sisco Insurance, for medical
expenses it paid in the amount of Nine Thousand Eighty-Eight
dollars and Four cents ($9,088.04).
This
order is final.
By the
Commission:
Michael H. Gillick, Commissioner
Procedural
Posture
On
August 3, 2017, the applicant filed a hearing application
claiming medical expense for a right upper extremity injury
that allegedly arose out of and in the course of her
employment with the employer. The date of injury claimed was
September 7, 2015. On April 12, 2018, an ALJ for the
Department of Administration, Division of Hearings and
Appeals, Office of Worker's Compensation Hearings held a
hearing in the matter. On July 12, 2018, the ALJ issued a
decision which found that the applicant sustained an
occupational right wrist/hand injury arising out of and in
the course of her employment with the employer. The ALJ
ordered reimbursement of medical treatment and medical
mileage expense and made the order interlocutory. A timely
petition for commission review was filed.
The
commission has considered the petition and the positions of
the parties, and has reviewed the evidence submitted at the
hearing. Based on its review, the commission makes the
following:
Findings
of Fact and Conclusions of Law
1. The
applicant, whose birthdate is March 28, 1963, was employed
with the employer during two periods as a "Junior
Accountant."2 Her first period of employment was
from 1993 to 1999. After quitting in 1999, she returned to
the same job with the employer in November of 2005. She
worked 32 hours per week.3
2. The
applicant's job primarily consisted of loading mail into
machines that would slice open envelopes, after which she
would manually remove the envelope from the machine, pull out
the contents and sort them. Most of the envelope contents
were invoices and checks. The applicant provided detailed
testimony regarding the number of mailings she processed. The
commission concluded that in her testimony she mildly
exaggerated the total number of mailings that she processed
in the time periods she described. However, the commission
also concluded that she performed the envelope opening and
sorting tasks on a repetitive and continuous basis for at
least 3 hours per day.4 Her duties also included about 30
minutes per day performing keyboard entries, and about 2
hours per week sorting and making notations on invoices.
Finally, for about two-and-one-half hours per day she opened
and sorted mail that had arrived in larger envelopes and did
not fit into the sorting machine. She used a different
machine to slice open the top of these envelopes, and then
manually pulled out the contents and sorted
them.5 Once again, the commission concluded
that the applicant slightly exaggerated the number of these
envelopes she handled within the described time periods, but
concluded that during those time periods the work was
repetitive and...
