Claimant testified through an interpreter that she came to the United States from Bosnia approximately 14 years ago. She is currently 51 or 52 years old.
For approximately four years, Claimant worked for Employer where her job duties included working on many different machines cutting pieces of plastic. Prior to working for Employer, Claimant worked as a housekeeper at a hotel near the Arch.
At Hearing, Claimant described her injury in April of 2006 as follows: Claimant was working on Machine 31. Her supervisor, John, sped up the machine so she had to work very quickly. Machine 31 made 1-1/2' square lids. The lids would come out of the machine four at a time. Claimant would take the lids off of the machine, and place them on a table where she would use a knife to cut off excess plastic on the lids. Once the excess plastic was removed, Claimant would lift the lids into a dryer that was next to the Machine 31. The lids were ultimately put in boxes. When a box was full of lids, Claimant would push it a distance of approximately five meters. Claimant testified that the boxes were very heavy and she had to use her back to move them.
When Claimant complained that Machine 31 was moving too fast, another supervisor named "Mark" slowed it down, however, John then increased the speed again. When Claimant reported to John that her shoulder was hurting because she had to work so quickly to keep up with the machine, John told her to go home if she could not keep up. The pain began in Claimant's shoulder when she was trimming the excess plastic (flesh) with a knife. Claimant demonstrated the motion necessary to trim the excess plastic; she was required to rotate her wrist and sharply pull her arm back toward her body. In addition to the knife, Claimant also used a tool and gas burner to remove the excess plastic from the lids.
Claimant attempted other treatments for her shoulder before undergoing surgery. She received shots in her shoulder and also took "very strong" pills for her shoulder. Eventually, however, she did undergo surgery on her right shoulder in June of 2009. The surgery did help Claimant's shoulder in that the pain in her shoulder was not as sharp following the surgery. However, her pain level both before and after surgery was around 7-8 on a Pain Scale of 1-10. Claimant's pain increases when it is raining or the weather changes.
As a result of this injury, Claimant cannot put her arm behind her back. She can only raise her right arm to shoulder height, but has to use her other hand and arm to support it. The back of her right hand feels numb, as does the back and front of her whole arm. Claimant said the numbness appeared after she had shots in her shoulder and underwent surgery. Claimant also testified that she first noticed the numbness in her arm about two weeks after the injury. Claimant cannot lift anything heavy with her right arm. Further, when she goes for a walk, she cannot let her right arm hang and must keep it flexed up against her body.
Claimant had no prior injuries to her right arm and no problems with pain in her right arm or shoulder before this incident. Claimant was involved in an automobile accident in May of 2006 and hurt her leg and back, however, she did not injure her right arm or shoulder in that automobile accident. Prior to the automobile accident, Claimant had already seen a doctor for her shoulder and undergone Physical Therapy.
On cross-examination, Claimant testified that the incident in which she injured her right shoulder occurred on March 17, 2006. Claimant testified that she had severe pain in her right
shoulder and arm from the day it was injured until she underwent surgery in June of 2009. Further, Claimant notified both John and Mark about the injury to her shoulder.