Elizabeth Anne Flickner v. Crete Carrier Corp.

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with T.C.A. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. Ms. Flickner is 55 years old, has eight years of formal education, and has worked as a truck driver for most of her adult life. She testified that she injured her back in 1975 in a work-related accident in Florida, that she underwent back surgery after the injury, and that she received Florida workers' compensation benefits for that injury. Exhaustive attempts by the parties failed to discover her Florida workers' compensation records owing to the 2-year time lapse. Ms. Flickner testified that after the 1975 injury she recovered and was able to work full-time at various jobs, mostly truck driving, for the next 2 years. On June 16, 1995, she injured her lower back while driving a truck for Crete Carrier Corporation, and the extent of her vocational disability from that injury is the issue before us. After the 1995 injury, Ms. Flickner was treated by Dr. Robert E. Finelli, who diagnosed lumbar disk defects at L3/4 and L4/5, and scar tissue from her previous surgery at L3/4 and L5/S1. He performed extensive lumbar surgery on September 18, 1995. Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist Dr. Julian Naldosky testified for the employee that she could no longer perform her truck driving job and had no skills which would transfer to a semi-skilled, light or sedentary job. He opined that jobs available to her in her disabled condition, in light of her employment background, abilities and education, and assuming her ability to tolerate sitting and standing throughout the workday, would include cashier in a restaurant or parking lot, ticket seller, retail receiving clerk, automobile self-serve service station attendant, gate tender, security monitor, hardware assembler, gasket inspector, packager of small parts or small products, and a bottling line 2