Back to Columns | Print Column | ||
State: Calif. Young: Pretty Big Deal: [2017-10-30] |
||
|
||
A lot of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board panel decisions that come along seem like small-ball stuff. But every once in a while there are big-deal issues. So it is with a July 10, 2017, WCAB panel decision, Kyle Pike v. County of San Diego (ADJ 7811907). In a nutshell, the issue in Pike was whether a worker who had not drawn 104 weeks of temporary disability payments could draw additional temporary total disability benefits after the five-year anniversary of his injury. There was no dispute as to Pike’s medical disability status, but rather a dispute as to the legal entitlement to TD payments in light of Labor Code section 4656(c), which states that:
Agreeing with the ruling of the trial judge, a panel majority of Commissioners Brass and Sweeney said that Pike could draw payments after the five years, since there had been a timely petition to reopen before the expiration of the five years following the injury. Commissioner Razo dissented. Noting the liberal construction mandate under Labor Code section 3202, the panel majority analyzed it in this fashion:
This is an issue of great significance, since it is not uncommon for workers to have surgeries or medically destabilized periods after five years from the injury. And often workers have not drawn a full 104 weeks of TD before the five years. The issue is now pending at the California Court of Appeal, 4th District. As noted in a recent WorkCompCentral article by reporter Greg Jones, San Diego County has filed an opening brief. An amicus brief was filed by California Workers’ Compensation Institute, and the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association will be filing a brief. I’ll provide more coverage of this issue as the briefing and argument proceeds. Julius Young is a claimants' attorney for the Boxer & Gerson law firm in Oakland. This column was reprinted with his permission from his blog, www.workerscompzone.com. |