9 Pa. Commw. 79 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1973
Opinion by
The McKinney Manufacturing Corporation and its insurance carrier, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance Company, have appealed from an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board sustaining a referee’s award of compensation to John W. Straub.
Straub injured his back on November 11, 1969 in the course of his employment as a production worker with McKinney. The parties entered into an agreement under which claimant was paid compensation for total disability from November 12, 1969 to December 2, 1969. Straub executed a final receipt on December 12, 1969, reciting his ability to return to work without any disability or loss of earning power; but on February 3, 1970 he filed a Petition To Set Aside The Fi
By undisputed testimony at the several hearings it was established that the union of which the claimant was a member struck the employer’s industrial plant on December 2, 1969 and that all production ceased on that day and did not resume until March 24, 1970; that the carrier’s physician saw the claimant on December 2, 1969 and formed the opinion that the claimant was still disabled but could do light work; that the carrier’s physician informed the employer’s industrial nurse that the claimant could do light work; that the industrial nurse informed the industrial relations manager of this fact; that the claimant would have been offered light work at his usual pay, in accordance with an established policy of his employer, but was not offered such because there was no production activity at the plant due to the strike; and that the claimant was paid weekly the sum of $40 by his union in strike benefits.
The claimant consulted, among other physicians, a chiropractor who treated him from November 11, 1969 until May 8, 1970, and whose opinion it was that the claimant remained totally disabled until February 3, 1970; that after that date he was 50 percent disabled; and that all disability ceased on March 23, 1970.
The employer presents three questions for our consideration. None has merit: “1. Is the employer obli
This question does not state the facts of the case. The claimant was not ordered to return to work. The carrier’s physician in his own words “discharged him to light work.”
“2. ... is the employer entitled to credit on any compensation payments due for union distribution in payment of picket duty by claimant during the period of alleged disability?”
“3. In view of the divergent testimony of claimant’s medical witness, a chiropractor, and that of defendant’s medical witness, a medical doctor, are the parties not entitled to an impartial medical examination of claimant, and his impartial testimony?”
The chiropractor testified wholly within his area of competence and the compensation authorities accepted his opinion. Chiropractors are competent to testify as experts concerning matters within the scope of the profession and practice of chiropractic medicine. Annot., 52 A.L.R. 2d 1384 (1957). It was, therefore, for the compensation authorities to resolve equally competent medical testimony and this it did. Scott and Statesman Ins. Co. v. DeAngelis, 3 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 168, 281 A. 2d 172 (1971). Further, the only matter in dispute was the duration of total and partial disability and the authorities had and could have accepted the claimant’s own testimony which was consistent with that of his doctor.
Order
And now, to wit, this 24th day of May, 1973, the order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board is
Dr. Peter W. Shorten................ $347.00
Dr. Joseph E. Moylan............... $ 42.00
This testimony is not consistent with a signed report of the same physician, dated December 3, 1969', which states that in the doctor’s opinion the claimant would be able to resume his regular work on December 3, 1969.