442 A.2d 36
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
March 8, 1982.
Appeal — Necessity for findings of fact — Remand.
1. An order of the State Employes’ Retirement Board which does not contain the requisite findings of fact and conclusions of law cannot be reviewed by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, and a matter appealed from such an order must be remanded. [196]
Submitted on briefs December 18, 1981, to Judges MENCER, CRAIG and MacPHAIL, sitting as a panel of three.
Page 195
Appeal, No. 96 C.D. 1980, from the Order of the State Employes’ Retirement Board in case of John V. Niper, SS No. 187 01 7709, dated December 21, 1979.
Application with the State Employes’ Retirement Board for disability benefits. Application denied. Applicant appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Case remanded. Denial affirmed. Applicant appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Order vacated. Case remanded.
Craig S. Boye, for petitioner.
Thomas J. Mangan, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, with hi Harvey Bartle, III, Acting Attorney General, for respondent.
OPINION BY JUDGE MENCER, March 8, 1982:
John V. Niper (claimant) has appealed from an order of the State Employes’ Retirement Board (Board) which denied disability benefits. We vacate and remand.
Upon terminating his employment with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, claimant applied for disability benefits, alleging that he suffered from emphysema, arthritis, and an ulcer. After taking testimony, the hearing examiner recommended that claimant be awarded benefits. The Board did not take additional testimony or make findings of fact and conclusions of law; it instead notified claimant’s attorney by certified mail that the “Board considered [the Hearing Examiner’s] recommendation and reviewed all the medical evidence submitted in this case. . . . As a result, the Board disagreed with the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation and unanimously voted to deny the disability benefit.”
This case is controlled by Fitzgerald v. State Employees’ Retirement Board,
Page 196
60 Pa. Commw. 558, 432 A.2d 285 (1981), where we stated that we will not review an administrative order that does not contain the required findings of fact and conclusions of law.[1]
Accordingly, we remand this case to the Board for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 8th day of March, 1982, the decision of the State Employes’ Retirement System, dated December 21, 1979, denying disability benefits to John V. Niper, is vacated, and the case is remanded for further action consistent with this opinion.
Judge PALLADINO did not participate in the decision in this case.