Preliminary Sections

• Pages: 1-20
• Author: David L. Pollak,Roger A. Tolman, Jr.,Monika R. Reyes

CALIFORNIA WORKERS’

COMPENSATION LAW AND PRACTICE

BY JUDGE DAVID L. POLLAK, JUDGE ROGER A. TOLMAN, JR., AND JUDGE MONIKA R. REYES

HIGHLIGHTS

This edition keeps you up-to-date with more than 100 recent cases plus updated forms and tables.

• COVID-19 presumptions have expired, except the presumption of psychiatric injury for firefighters

and first responders is extended to January 1, 2029. §1:54

• Securities brokers’ exemption from the ABC test upheld. §3:70.2

• School district board resolution converted a volunteer to an employee. §3:170

• Personal disputes distinguished from work-related assaults. §6:121

• Impermissible vocational apportionment may not substitute for valid medical apportionment §8:83

• Applicant could not be compelled to go to the assessment by “defendant’s” nurse. §9:19

• IMR was defective because of inaccurate medical history. §9:63

• Lien claimant’s request for discretionary relief accepted. §10:94

• Airline Deregulation Act cannot preempt Board’s obligation to assess reasonableness of evidence

to determine air ambulance carrier’s reimbursement. §10:109

• Cost petitioner not excused from submitting dispute to independent bill review. §10:154

• Industrial disability leave is not “compensation” for purposes of the serious and willful misconduct

penalty. §12:20

• Attorney’s fees constitute “compensation” and unreasonable delay in payment is subject to

penalties. §12:102.

• Requests to set aside C&R based on lack of competency and mistake. §§15:103, 15:104

• Cumulative trauma claim was not barred by the statute of limitations §16:154.

• An employer’s failure to give notice of the statute of limitations allowed a change in the date of

injury through the relation back doctrine. §18:51

• Actual knowledge of facts barred statute of limitations even though the employer did not know the

facts could show compensable injury. §18:54

• Timeliness of claims for Subsequent Benefits Trust Fund Benefits, §18:63

• Unrepresented track appropriate for applicant who had not signed attorney fee agreement

before selection of a qualified medical evaluator panel. §19:32

• “Doctor shopping” may merit sanctions but is not a basis for striking a second panel for a

subsequent cumulative trauma claim. §19:132

• Tolling of 60-day period where a petition for reconsideration never reaches Board. §23:50.

• No duty of care to workers’ spouses in Covid-19 cases. §24:08

• Firefighter could not sue city bus driver’s employer for negligence because transit authority was a

branch of government so firefighter and bus driver were co-workers. §24:06

AND MORE!

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