What the panel ordered
The WCAB rescinded the October 4, 2022 Findings and Award and ordered that applicant is entitled to a new QME evaluation; all other issues including costs and sanctions are deferred.
Applicant sought reconsideration of the Findings and Award issued on October 4, 2022, by the WCJ, who found applicant was not entitled to an additional QME evaluation.
This docket was decided more than once. Shown here is the latest released decision; we also hold October 11, 2021.
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.
The Appeals Board en banc in Navarro held that an employee is entitled to a new QME evaluation for a subsequent claim of injury filed on a new claim form, regardless of whether the injury involves the same body parts or employer, and the Labor Code provisions support this interpretation.
From the decision · page 3In Navarro v. City of Montebello (2014) 79 Cal. Comp. Cases 418 (Appeals Board en banc), the Appeals Board held en banc that the "Labor Code does not require an employee to return to the same panel QME for an evaluation of a subsequent claim of injury." (Navarro, supra, 79 Cal. Comp. Cases at p. 420.)