Douglas Rector v. Integram St. Louis Seating

Employee: Douglas Rector

Injury No. 04-148013

Before the

DIVISION OF WORKERS'

COMPENSATION

Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of Missouri

Jefferson City, Missouri

Dependents: ---

Employer: Integram St. Louis Seating

Additional Party: ---

Insurer: American Casualty Company of Redding, Pennsylvania

Hearing Date: March 20, 2007 Checked by: LEHB/lsn

1. Are any benefits awarded herein? Yes
2. Was the injury or occupational disease compensable under Chapter 287? Yes
3. Was there an accident or incident of occupational disease under the Law? Yes
4. Date of accident or onset of occupational disease: May 31, 2004
5. State location where accident occurred or occupational disease contracted: Franklin County, MO
6. Was above employee in employ of above employer at time of alleged accident or occupational disease? Yes
7. Did employer receive proper notice? Yes
8. Did accident or occupational disease arise out of and in the course of the employment? Yes
9. Was claim for compensation filed within time required by Law? Yes
10. Was employer insured by above insurer? Yes

1. Describe work employee was doing and how accident happened or occupational disease contracted:

Rear assembly worker

1. Did accident or occupational disease cause death? No Date of death? ---
2. Parts of body injured by accident or occupational disease: left and right wrists/hands
3. Compensation paid to-date for temporary disability: None
4. Value necessary medical aid paid to date by employer/insurer? None
5. Value necessary medical aid not furnished by employer/insurer? See Award

Employee: Douglas Rector Injury No. 04-148013

1. Employee's average weekly wages: N/A
2. Weekly compensation rate: N/A
3. Method wages computation: N/A

COMPENSATION PAYABLE

1. Amount of compensation payable:

Future medical care

Total: Future medical care

Each of said payments to begin as of date of Temporary or Partial Award and be subject to modification and review as provided by law. This award is only temporary or partial, is subject to further order, and the

proceedings are hereby continued and the case kept open until a final award can be made.

IF THIS AWARD IS NOT COMPLIED WITH, THE AMOUNT AWARDED HEREIN MAY BE DOUBLED IN THE FINAL AWARD, IF SUCH FINAL AWARD IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS TEMPORARY AWARD.

The compensation awarded to the claimant shall be subject to a lien in the amount of 25 % of all payments hereunder in favor of the following attorney for necessary legal services rendered to the claimant:

David N. BohrerAndrew L. Mandel, Attorney for Claimant

FINDINGS OF FACT and RULINGS OF LAW:

Employee: Douglas Rector

Injury No: 04-148013

Before the

DIVISION OF WORKERS'

COMPENSATION

Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of Missouri

Jefferson City, Missouri

Dependents: ---

Employer: | Integram St. Louis Seating |

This is a hardship hearing before the Division of Workers' Compensation in Injury Number 04148013 . The claimant, Douglas Rector, appeared in person on his own behalf and by counsel, Attorney David N. Bohrer. The employer/insurer, Integram St. Louis Seating/American Casualty Company of Redding, Pennsylvania, appeared by and through counsel, Attorney Timothy M. Tierney.

The parties entered into certain stipulations, and agreements as to the issues and evidence to be presented in this hearing.

On or about May 31, 2004: a. the claimant was in the employment of Integram St. Louis Seating in Franklin County, Missouri; b. the employer and employee were operating under and subject to the provisions of the Missouri Workers' Compensation law; c. the employer's liability was insured by American Casualty Company of Redding, Pennsylvania.

e. The employer had notice of the alleged injury. f. A Claim for Compensation was filed within the time prescribed by law. g. No compensation has been paid to the employee to date. h. No medical aid has been provided.

Occupational disease

1. Medical causation
2. Need for future medical care

The following exhibits were admitted into evidence without objections:

No. A: Deposition transcript of Dr. Adelu G. Lipede, M.D. taken on March 2, 2007 on behalf of the claimant (Admitted subject to the objections therein)

No. B: MARKED BUT NOT OFFERED (Deposition of Douglas Rector, the claimant)

No. C: Deposition transcript of Christopher Nixon taken on behalf of the claimant on November 13, 2006 (Admitted subject to the objections therein)

No. D: Independent medical exam report performed by Dr. Lipede on Mr. Rector

Employer/Insurer's Exhibits:

No. 1: Medical records of Dr. Russell C. Cantrell, M.D.

No. 2: Time records from the employer

The claimant, Doug Rector, who was found to be basically a credible witness, alleges that he first noticed problems with his hands, arms and shoulders in May of 2004. Rector, presently 50 years old, testified that since 1995 he has been an employee of Integram Seating, a company that builds seats for Chrysler minivans.

Listing all of the positions he has held at Integram, Rector testified - cover loader, line worker, rear subassembly. I have been at the position of rear subassembly for roughly the last four years, he stated. I

worked in cover loading for four years, and as a line worker approximately three years, the claimant said. Explaining his duties as a cover loader, Rector stated it was putting the seat covers on molds and stretching them and closing the molds up. He explained that the trims go on molds, so it can go around and let robots pour foam on it. What I did as a cover loader was stretch the trims on the molds, Rector said. I used every part of my body to perform these activities. Rector stated that some of the trims are fairly tight, and agreed that essentially you're using your whole body to force the upholstery onto the mold. A line worker puts all the parts on the pallets, builds the backs and the cushions in that part of the rotation, Rector testified. In regards to the relationship between a line worker and a rear subassembly worker, the claimant agreed that line workers gather all the parts that are going to be needed for the subassembly of a seat in that they're put on a pallet to be delivered to the people who do the rear subassembly. Rector stated that a line worker basically is an assembly line that runs at waist level pass you. He agreed that he would be using your arms and shoulders loading things onto pallets that are located at waist level.

Giving examples of all the parts he put onto a pallet that would get passed on to the rear subassembly people, Rector stated - backs, cushions, side shields, hinges, risers; that's about all I can remember of it for right now. He was queried - What about hardware, such as screws, bolts, fasteners of various sorts; does that go on the pallet that's going to be passed onto rear subassembly? No, Rector answered, we stock those ourselves in the cells.

Rector agreed that he worked on the line for approximately three years and then graduated to a rear subassembly worker, and he has been doing this for the last four years, and agreed that it would have been about 2002 or 2003. The claimant agreed that the rear subassembly is the more advanced position at Integram Seating, and that it takes more technical expertise. He agreed that he gets paid more than he was getting paid as a line worker. You work with partners when you work as rear subassembly men, Rector said, working with one other person. He agreed that the two of them worked in a cell, which is a work area for two people. Rector agreed that there are six cells at Integram, and further agreed that when Integram is in operation, essentially there are twelve people working in six cells doing assembly of the seats. Rector explained that there is a conveyor that delivers these pallets that have all the materials you'll be working with, and that conveyor runs to the side of the cell. Agreeing that one of them is responsible for pulling the pallet off the line, Rector stated that it would have been his partner because it would have been on his side of the cell. It has always been that way since l've been working in rear subassembly, the claimant said.

Testifying about how many seats he worked on in rear subassembly, the claimant said it depends on what our number is for the day. If it's a two passenger seat, it's just one; if it's quads, we do two at a time, he stated. He agreed that he and his partner in the cell would share the work of each seat. Describing the components of an average seat, Rector testified well, quad seats there's basically about 18, 20 parts. He agreed that these needed to be assembled for each seat. My partner would pull the pallet off the conveyor and we would throw everything to the side basically and we just start assembling stuff, Rector said, he does one side of the seats and I do the other side. The type of equipment I have to do the assembly of the seats are torque guns and screw guns, the claimant said, the torque gun hangs from the ceiling and the drill guns are below you. An average of ten different torquings per side would be needed for a given seat, Rector stated. The number of different screwing activities there would be is a dozen, he said. So for a given seat, there would be a total of twenty-two screwings and torquings, Rector said. It depended how many seats I and my partner did every day, the claimant said. We have done as many as a hundred a day, he said, and we did more than that some days, that's rare. For assembling seats, Rector agreed, he uses his hands and arms and shoulders the most. Rector further agreed that it was manual labor using his hands, arms and shoulders to put these seats together. He agreed that he was using guns and drills and other hand tools to put these seats together, and agreed that he spends the whole day putting these seats together. It depends how many hours a day I put these seats together, Rector testified, it could be eight, it could be ten hours. He agreed that he is assembling seats the entire time except for maybe some clean up at the end.