What the panel ordered
Findings and Order issued by WCJ on April 7, 2021 affirmed; Petition for Reconsideration denied
Petition for Reconsideration granted to further study factual and legal issues; WCJ Findings and Order issued April 7, 2021 affirmed after reconsideration
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.
Applicant was not entitled to temporary disability benefits after employer discovered she was ineligible to work legally; employer compliance with federal law precludes liability for benefits after that date.
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Order (F&O), issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) on April 7, 2021, wherein the WCJ found in pertinent part that applicant sustained injury arising out of and in the course of employment (AOE/COE) to her neck and claimed to have sustained injury to her head, nervous system, both arms, both legs, and excretory system; and that applicant was not entitled to temporary disability indemnity benefits.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Applicant resigned on July 25, 2019, after being told she could not continue employment due to ineligibility to work
Favours Defendant prevailed
Employer not liable for benefits after discovering applicant's ineligibility to work
From the decision · page 4Applicant sustained an injury AOE/COE on August 23, 2018, and defendant paid temporary disability indemnity benefits for a brief period in February 2019. Applicant returned to work and in the process of promoting applicant, defendant discovered that applicant was not eligible to work. Applicant resigned on July 25, 2019, after being told she could not continue her employment. Subsequent medical reports state that applicant could only do modified work compatible with the work restrictions identified.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
California Labor Code
Labor Code section 1171.5
Employer not liable for temporary disability benefits after discovering employee's ineligibility to work
From the decision · page 3Labor Code section 1171.5 states in part:
California Supreme Court
Federal immigration law preempts state law employee protections for periods after employer's discovery of employee ineligibility to work
From the decision · page 4We conclude: (1) Senate Bill No. 1818, which extends state law employee protections and remedies to all workers "regardless of immigration status," is not preempted by federal immigration law except to the extent it authorizes an award of lost pay damages for any period after the employer's discovery of an employee's ineligibility to work in the United States, and (2) contrary to the Court of Appeal's holdings, the doctrines of after-acquired evidence and unclean hands are not complete defenses to a worker's claims under California's FEHA, although they do affect the availability of remedies. (Salas v. Sierra Chemical Co., supra, at p. 415.)
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
Applicant's testimony that she resigned only because employer promised to rehire her after immigration papers were fixed
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About this page
- A published decision of the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, taken apart by what it turned on. The Board publishes the decision itself; this page adds the extraction and quotes the passage behind every claim.
- The injured worker is not named here, and the case caption is not printed. Physicians appear as the decision names them, because a medical opinion is an act in a public proceeding.
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