ADJ12141593 — California WCAB decision

What the panel ordered

Petition for Reconsideration granted; final decision deferred pending further review of the merits and the record.

Applicant sought reconsideration of the October 24, 2025 Findings and Order denying SIBTF benefits; WCAB granted reconsideration and deferred a final decision pending further review.

Read the official decision →

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.

Other disputed issueRemandedneck · cervical spine · lumbar spine · bilateral shoulders · thoracic spine

The WCJ found applicant did not meet her burden to show pre-existing permanent partial disability prior to the subsequent injury, but the WCAB found the record and legal issues may not have been properly developed or identified and granted reconsideration for further review.

From the decision · page 4The issues were limited to: 1. Whether apportionment applies to the 35% or 5% threshold. 2. Whether applicant meets the 70% threshold. 3. Whether applicant has a pre-existing permanent partial disability. (Ibid.) Although applicant did not testify at trial, the WCJ made findings that applicant suffered injury to all body parts, but that applicant did not meet her evidentiary burden of proof that she was permanently partially disabled prior to the subsequent industrial injury and issued an Order that the applicant take nothing from the SIBTF. (F&O, at pp. 1-2.) It is from this F&O that applicant seeks reconsideration.

The rules the panel named

Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.

Lab. Code § 4751; Todd v. SIBTF (2020) 85 Cal.Comp.Cases 576 (en banc); Escobedo v. Marshalls (2005) 70 Cal.Comp.Cases 604 (en banc)

To recover SIBTF benefits, an employee must prove a pre-existing permanent partial disability independently capable of supporting an award, and that the combined effect of the last injury and the previous disability equals 70% or more of total disability, with specific threshold requirements under Lab. Code § 4751.

The WCAB panel reviewed whether the WCJ properly applied the SIBTF statutory thresholds and evidentiary requirements, and whether the record was sufficiently developed to support the findings.

From the decision · page 6If an employee who is permanently partially disabled receives a subsequent compensable injury resulting in additional permanent partial disability so that the degree of disability caused by the combination of both disabilities is greater than that which would have resulted from the subsequent injury alone, and the combined effect of the last injury and the previous disability or impairment is a permanent disability equal to 70 percent or more of total, he shall be paid in addition to the compensation due under this code for the permanent partial disability caused by the last injury compensation for the remainder of the combined permanent disability existing after the last injury as provided in this article; provided, that either (a) the previous disability or impairment affected a hand, an arm, a foot, a leg, or an eye, and the permanent disability resulting from the subsequent injury affects the opposite and corresponding member, and such latter permanent disability, when considered alone and without regard to, or adjustment for, the occupation or age of the employee, is equal to 5 percent or more of total, or (b) the permanent disability resulting from the subsequent injury, when considered alone and without regard to or adjustment for the occupation or the age of the employee, is equal to 35 percent or more of total. (§ 4751.)

ADJ12141593 · January 22, 2026

What the panel ordered

What was disputed, and how it came out

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The facts that decided it

The rules the panel named

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