RICKEY TREMMEL, Claimant
v.
KEOKUK COUNTY HEALTH CENTER, Employer,
and
NATIONAL UNION FIRE INS. CO. OF PA,, Insurance Carrier, Defendants.
No. 5065163
Iowa Workers Compensation
Before the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner
March 13, 2020
Head
Notes: 1402.4; 1803; 2907; 5-9998
APPEAL DECISION
JOSEPH
S. CORTESE II WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER
Defendants
Keokuk County Health Center, employer, and its insurance
carrier, National Union Fire Insurance Company of
Pennsylvania, appeal from an arbitration decision filed on
December 20, 2018. Claimant Ricky Tremmel cross-appeals. The
case was heard on April 4, 2018, and it was considered fully
submitted in front of the deputy workers' compensation
commissioner on May 5, 2018.
The
deputy commissioner found claimant sustained 45 percent
industrial disability as a result of the stipulated work
injury which occurred on September 17, 2015, which entitles
claimant to receive 225 weeks of permanent partial disability
benefits commencing on December 23, 2015. The deputy
commissioner also ordered defendants to pay claimant's
costs of the arbitration proceeding in the amount of $100.00.
Defendants
assert on appeal that the deputy commissioner erred in
awarding claimant 45 percent industrial disability.
Defendants assert the award, for industrial disability should
either be reduced substantially or it should be reversed
entirely. Claimant asserts on cross-appeal that the minimum
award which claimant is entitled to receive is 45 percent
industrial disability, and claimant asserts the evidence
supports a higher award.
Those
portions of the proposed agency decision pertaining to issues
not raised on appeal are adopted as a part of this appeal
decision.
I have
performed a de novo review of the evidentiary record and the
detailed arguments of the parties and I reach the same
analysis, findings, and conclusions as those reached by the
deputy commissioner.
Pursuant
to Iowa Code sections 17A.5 and 86.24, I affirm and adopt as
the final agency decision those portions of the proposed...
