What the panel ordered
The WCAB affirmed the WCJ's Findings and Award and denied defendant's Petition for Reconsideration.
Defendant Barrett Business Services, through its insurer Ace American Insurance, sought reconsideration of the May 14, 2021 Findings and Award which found applicant sustained industrial cumulative trauma injury resulting in 100% permanent disability. Defendant contested the award and the denial of a replacement QME after Dr. Charles' death.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
The evidence including the FCE by Dr. Bubanja and the QME Dr. Charles' reports showed applicant's severe physical limitations and inability to perform sedentary work, supporting 100% permanent disability and vocational infeasibility.
From the decision · page 1Defendant Barrett Business Services, by and through its insurer, Ace American Insurance, administered by CORVEL, seeks reconsideration of the May 14, 2021 Findings and Award, wherein the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found that applicant, while employed as an office manager at Master Builders, sustained an industrial cumulative trauma injury to her bilateral shoulders and wrists, and a station and gait disorder on December 15, 2015, resulting in 100% permanent disability. The WCJ also held the record was substantial medical evidence and that there was no need for a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) to replace Dr. Charles.