31 A.2d 366 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1943
Argued March 1, 1943. This is a close case; but after careful consideration we are of opinion that a proper construction of the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law relating to compensation for thepermanent loss of certain members of the body, (clause (c) of section 306), justifies the order of the board refusing to terminate the compensation award for "permanent total disability".
The claimant sustained an injury on June 3, 1933, in the course of his employment with the defendant which required the amputation of both feet at points several inches below the knees. Thereafter two other amputations on each stump had to be performed successively and the medical testimony indicates that a further amputation of each will probably be necessary. Claimant has been fitted with artificial feet, and walks with difficulty, in a stooped position, with the aid of two canes.
The amendment of April 13, 1927, P.L. 186, to the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1915, P.L. 736, was in force at the date of the accident, and as so amended, section 306(c) read, inter alia: "For all disability resulting from permanent injuries of the following classes, the compensation shall be exclusively as follows: . . . . . .
"For the loss of a foot sixty-five per centum of wages during one hundred and fifty weeks. . . . . .
"For the lose of any two or more such members, . . . . . . not constituting total disability, sixty-five per centum of wages during the aggregate of the periods specified for each. . . . ..
"Unless the board shall otherwise determine, the loss of both hands or both arms or both feet or both legs or both eyes shall constitute total disability to be *120 compensated according to the provisions of clause (a)."
Section 306(a) established the following schedule of compensation for injuries resulting in total disability: "For the first five hundred weeks after the seventh day of total disability, sixty-five per centum of the wages of the injured employe as defined in section three hundred and nine; but the compensation shall not be more than fifteen dollars per week nor less then seven dollars per week, and shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of sixty-five hundred dollars. . . . . . Nothing in this clause shall require payment of compensation after disability shall cease. Should partial disability be followed by total disability, the period of five hundred weeks shall be reduced by the number of weeks during which compensation was paid for such partial disability."
Under clause (c) of section 306, compensation is to be paid as therein provided for the permanent loss of the members specified, irrespective of actual disability or incapacity to labor (Lentev. Luci,
Otherwise, see what an unfair consequence might result. If this claimant had had both legs amputated at the knee, instead of a few inches below it, he would have been entitled to compensation for two hundred and fifteen weeks for the loss of each leg, or a total of four hundred and thirty weeks' compensation, irrespective of his incapacity to labor, and without any declaration in the Act that such injuries constituted total disability. But if the added paragraph providing that the loss of both legs should constitute total disability, to be compensated according to the provisions of clause (a), should be interpreted as appellant contends, his four hundred and thirty weeks of compensation aggregating $6,450, for the permanent loss of both legs, irrespective of total disability, would be cut to three hundred weeks or $4,500, if he was able to earn a few dollars a week.
The provision that the permanent loss of two feet, etc. "shall constitute total disability" was intended to benefit the injured employee not to hurt him. The act specifically declared that the effect of their permanent loss should be `total disability', unless the board shall *122 otherwise determine; and this is so, for the purpose of the Act, irrespective of the fact that he may be able to earn some wages or salary in some special or unusual kind of work. The law properly took into consideration the permanently crippled condition of the employee which will exist and affect his earning power as long as he lives — perhaps, long after the expiration of the compensation period.
Clause (a) does provide that payment of compensation shall not be required "after disability shall cease", but this provision should not be applied to a situation where the Act has expressly declared that, for the purpose of determining the amount ofcompensation payable, such permanent loss shall constitute totaldisability. It refers to cases where total disability has resulted from injuries, other than the permanent loss of members of the body, which may be ameliorated or cured by time and treatment. The disabling effects caused by the amputation of two feet, etc., are permanent and do not cease or change with lapse of time; and when declared by the legislature to constitute total disability, it necessarily remained so, at least until determined otherwise by the board.
The admitted facts show that appellant's present contention is in the nature of an afterthought; for at the time of filing its petition to terminate the award it had already paid the claimant compensation at $15 a week — before his injury he had earned $35 a week — for three hundred and sixty-six weeks from June 10, 1933, or sixty-six weeks longer than claimant would have been entitled to if he were limited to three hundred weeks compensation, as representing the aggregate of an award of one hundred and fifty weeks for the loss of each foot, or three hundred weeks compensation, as representing an award for partial disability.
The generosity of the employer, in this particular case, in paying claimant the same wages or salary after *123 his accident as he had received before, irrespective of the fact that the work done by him was entirely different and of a very limited nature and could have been done by an untrained girl for $15 a week,1 does not affect legal principles applicable in situations where the legislature has declared that the permanent loss of two feet, etc., shall constitute total disability, unless the board shall determine otherwise. The board has not determined otherwise in this case. In fact it has specifically ruled in consonance with the legislative declaration.
Judgment affirmed.