What the panel ordered
Permanent total disability award start date changed to April 25, 2015; retroactive temporary disability and attorney fees awarded; future medical care awarded
Petition for Reconsideration granted, Findings and Award of February 1, 2023 rescinded and substituted
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.
Discrimination under Labor Code §132aApplicant prevailedlow back · psyche · internal · hypertension · urological · rectum · left shoulder
The Appeals Board held that the start date of permanent total disability indemnity should be fixed by Labor Code sections 4650(b)(1) and 4650(b)(2), and the COLAs commence on January 1 after entitlement, supporting the change to April 25, 2015.
From the decision · page 1[T]he date on which an injured worker becomes entitled to receive permanent disability indemnity is fixed by sections 4650(b)(1) and 4650(b)(2). This provides the most uniform and fair date from which to calculate an applicant's COLAs. Accordingly, we hold that an injured worker's COLAs commence on the January 1 after the injured worker became entitled to receive permanent disability indemnity without regard to the indemnity rate or whether the employer actually paid permanent disability. (Brower v. David Jones Construction (2014) 79 Cal.Comp.Cases 550, 563 (Appeals Board en banc).); see also Lab. Code, § 4659(c).)