What the panel ordered
May 10, 2023 Findings and Order rescinded; case returned to trial level for further development and new decision by WCJ.
Petition for reconsideration of the WCJ's Findings and Order of May 10, 2023 granted; May 10, 2023 F&O rescinded and case returned to trial level for further proceedings and new decision.
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.
Psyche AOE/COERemandedpsyche
The WCJ did not properly apply the Rolda analysis sequence, particularly failing to establish industrial causation before addressing lawful personnel actions, leading to rescission and remand for proper application and further development of the record.
From the decision · page 1Applicant filed a petition seeking reconsideration, or, alternatively, removal, of a workers' compensation administrative law judge's (WCJ) Findings and Order and Opinion on Decision (F&O) of May 10, 2023, wherein it was found that, while employed as a plant supervisor between the period June 6, 2019 to March 13, 2020, applicant experienced five actual events of employment that may have contributed to his alleged psychiatric injury (Lab. Code, § 3208.3(b)(1)), that three of said events were lawful, nondiscriminatory, good faith personnel actions (Lab. Code, § 3208.3(h)), and that two of the events contained some non-industrial factors that contributed to applicant's "psychiatric diagnosis." The WCJ also ordered the parties to serve the panel qualified medial evaluator (QME), psychologist Kevin J. McCullough, Ph.D., with the Minutes of Hearing and Summaries of Evidence (MOH/SOEs) produced during trial, and ordered Dr. McCullough to issue a supplemental medical-legal report determining: 1) whether applicant had a psychiatric diagnosis under the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, and, if so, 2) whether applicant's psychiatric injury was predominantly caused by industrial or non-industrial factors.