Iowa Workers' Compensation

In Menard, Inc. v. Scheffert,  No. 14-1029 (Iowa App. 2014), the Court of Appeals concluded that claimant's rate, which was computed on the basis of having received bonuses, was properly computed by the agency.  The court concluded that the commissioner's finding that claimant's bonuses were not irregular was not irrational, illogical or wholly unjustifiable. Claimant received a bonus each year that her department was profitable.  From 1996 to 2008, the date of injury in the case, claimant received some amount of bonus, called the TPS bonus.  Additionally, claimant was eligible for an IPS bonus if the store was profitable.  Neither bonus was guaranteed, and could be revised downward based on fines assessed against employees.  Claimant received both a TPS and IPS bonus in the year of the injury, and the agency included these bonuses in determining claimant's rate.  The district court concluded that the agency's findings on this point were not irration...

Over the years, the Pella Corporation (formerly Rolscreen) has paid yearly bonuses to its employees.  Although the bonuses differed in amount each year and there was no absolute certainty that the bonuses would be paid each year, those bonuses have been paid every year, since at least the late 1980s.  In Noel v. Rolscreen , 475 N.W.2d 666, 667 (Iowa App. 1991), the court affirmed the commissioner's conclusion that excluded the bonus from a claimant's gross earnings.  Following that case, Pella repeatedly pointed to Noel as excluding their bonuses from consideration in determining gross weekly wages.  The commissioner would sometimes include the bonus, sometimes not, and oftentimes, the cases would proceed to district court.  This is precisely the situation in Pella Corp. v. Minar , No. 13-1616 (Iowa App. Aug. 13, 2014). The court in Minar  posited the issue as whether the agency's inclusion of the bonuses in gross earnings was "irrational, illogical, or w...

The case of Burton v. Hilltop Care Center , 813 NW2d 250 (Iowa 2012), arose out of a unique set of facts, but has led to a decision in which the court has modified its standard of review principles and simultaneously urged the commissioner's office to rethink its manner of deciding cases. The primary issue involved in Burton was a rate question for a claimant who was allegedly supposed to receive a $1,000 per year raise, but was paid (for 15 months) a wage that was $1,000 more on a monthly basis than she had previously been receiving.  The commissioner and court of appeals concluded that the rate should be decided on the basis of the $1,000 additional per month that had been paid, and defendants challenged this conclusion, in addition to challenging a penalty finding and the award of a 30% industrial disability from abdominal injuries sustained by the claimant. In setting forth its standard of review for the case, the court cites the familiar principles of substantial evidence...