What the panel ordered
Petition for reconsideration granted; arbitrator's decision rescinded; new decision issued finding applicant not covered by Zenith Insurance Company workers' compensation policy due to valid waiver.
Petition for reconsideration filed by defendant Zenith Insurance Company, seeking review of an arbitrator's Conclusion of Law & Order dated February 10, 2025.
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 applicant executed a valid written waiver of workers' compensation rights, excluding him from coverage under the policy. The waiver is conclusive under Labor Code section 3352(a)(17), and the applicant's subjective intent or failure to read the waiver does not invalidate it.
From the decision · page 5In Sanchez, the injured manager also claimed not to have read the waiver, but the arbitrator correctly found that "He is presumed to have read what he signed and he should be bound by its terms." (Id. at p. *8.) Although the arbitrator in Sanchez also stated that the manager had the terms of the waiver explained, that additional fact was not essential to the holding. Applicant filed a valid waiver of workers' compensation coverage excluding him from the definition of employee. We therefore grant reconsideration, rescind the arbitrator's decision and issue a new decision finding that applicant was not an employee pursuant to Labor Code section 3352(a)(17) and thus excluded from workers' compensation coverage. Since applicant's only argument for not applying the express waiver was the fact that he did not read it, we not need discuss the contours and limits, if any, of the conclusive presumption codified in section 3352(a)(17).