What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration granted; WCJ's Findings and Award of November 25, 2025 rescinded; matter returned to trial level for further proceedings and decision.
Defendant sought reconsideration of the WCJ's Findings and Award of November 25, 2025, which found permanent total disability; WCAB granted reconsideration, rescinded the WCJ decision, and returned the matter for further development.
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 WCJ's finding of permanent total disability was not supported by substantial evidence because the vocational expert's opinion went beyond the medical work restrictions and included unsupported work preclusions; the record needed further development.
From the decision · page 1Defendant seeks reconsideration of a workers' compensation administrative law judge's (WCJ) Findings and Award of November 25, 2025, wherein it was found that while employed on August 7, 2019 as a maintenance technician, applicant sustained industrial injury to the right hand, right arm, and psyche, causing permanent total (100%) disability. In finding permanent total disability, the WCJ relied on the reporting of vocational expert Paul Broadus, who opined that applicant's industrial injury precluded applicant from vocational rehabilitation or from employment in the open labor market.