What the panel ordered
Petition for reconsideration dismissed; matter returned to trial level for hearing on petition to set aside OACR.p. 3
Petition for reconsideration filed by applicant seeking to set aside the Order Approving Compromise and Release (OACR) on grounds of duress; matter returned to trial level for hearing on petition to set aside OACR.
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 petition was dismissed because the issues raised were not ripe for adjudication and the matter was returned to the trial level for a hearing on the petition to set aside the OACR.
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the “Order Approving Compromise and Release” (OACR) issued on June 18, 2026, by the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ). Applicant contends that the settlement should be set aside because she signed it under duress. We have not received an answer from defendant. The WCJ filed a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration (Report) recommending that we return the matter to the trial level to treat the petition as one seeking to set aside the OACR. We have considered the allegations of the Petition for Reconsideration and the contents of the WCJ’s Report. Based on our review of the record we will dismiss applicant’s petition for reconsideration and return this matter to the trial level so that the WCJ may treat the petition as one seeking to set aside the OACR. The WCJ may conduct a hearing and decide whether the OACR should be set aside. Any party aggrieved by the WCJ’s decision on the petition to set aside may then seek reconsideration at that time.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Applicant filed a petition for reconsideration seeking to set aside the Order Approving Compromise and Release on grounds of duress.
Favours Applicant prevailed
This petition was dismissed as the issues raised were not ripe for adjudication and the matter was returned to the trial level for a hearing.
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the “Order Approving Compromise and Release” (OACR) issued on June 18, 2026, by the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ). Applicant contends that the settlement should be set aside because she signed it under duress. We have not received an answer from defendant. The WCJ filed a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration (Report) recommending that we return the matter to the trial level to treat the petition as one seeking to set aside the OACR. We have considered the allegations of the Petition for Reconsideration and the contents of the WCJ’s Report. Based on our review of the record we will dismiss applicant’s petition for reconsideration and return this matter to the trial level so that the WCJ may treat the petition as one seeking to set aside the OACR. The WCJ may conduct a hearing and decide whether the OACR should be set aside. Any party aggrieved by the WCJ’s decision on the petition to set aside may then seek reconsideration at that time.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Labor Code section 5909(a)
Labor Code section 5909(a)
The Appeals Board acted timely on the petition for reconsideration within 60 days of filing.
From the decision · page 2During the period from July 1, 2026, to July 13, 2026, Labor Code section 5909(a) provided that a petition for reconsideration was deemed denied unless the Appeals Board acted on the petition within 60 days from the date of filing. (Lab. Code, § 5909(a).) Here, the Petition for Reconsideration was filed on July 6, 2026, and 60 days from the date of filing is Friday, September 4, 2026. This decision is issued by or on September 4, 2026, so that we have timely acted on the petition as required by Labor Code section 5909(a).
Labor Code section 5313
Labor Code section 5313
The WCJ must state reasons or grounds for the determination to enable meaningful reconsideration; the petition was dismissed as issues were not ripe for adjudication.
From the decision · page 2The Appeals Board has a constitutional mandate to “ensure substantial justice in all cases.” (Kuykendall v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 396, 403 [65 Cal.Comp.Cases 264].) Substantial justice is “[j]ustice fairly administered according to the rules of substantive law, regardless of any procedural errors not affecting the litigant’s substantive rights; a fair trial on the merits.” (Black’s Law Dictionary (7th ed. 1999).) Labor Code section 5313 requires a WCJ to state the “reasons or grounds upon which the determination was made.” The WCJ’s opinion on decision “enables the parties, and the Board if reconsideration is sought, to ascertain the basis for the decision, and makes the right of seeking reconsideration more meaningful.” (Hamilton v. Lockheed Corporation (Hamilton) (2001) 66 Cal.Comp.Cases 473, 476 (Appeals Board en banc), citing Evans v. Workmen’s Comp. Appeals Bd. (1968) 68 Cal.2d 753, 755 [33 Cal.Comp.Cases 350, 351].) A decision “must be based on admitted evidence in the record” (Hamilton, supra, at p. 478), and must be supported by substantial evidence. (Lab.
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