What the panel ordered
The WCAB denied defendants' Petition for Reconsideration of the Findings and Award issued by the WCJ on March 15, 2022.
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 facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Defendants' payment to EDD was delayed 99 days after the May 12, 2021 agreement to resolve the lien.
Favours Applicant prevailed
This delay was found unreasonable and violated Labor Code section 5814, justifying the penalty.
From the decision · page 4However, the earlier dates are at least as noteworthy, in my opinion. That is, the EDD explicitly accepted defendant's offer to resolve the lien for a precise sum, on May 12, 2021. That, without more, would appear to impose a contractual obligation. While the EDD often requests the completion of a specific form (unique to that department, I have been told), it does not always do so; most liens are resolved without the need to execute a formal stipulation or obtain a judge's signature. In this case, the EDD representative, on May 12, 2021, did offer to either provide such a form or sign the compromise and release; that went 76 days without a response. In fact, when, 22 days after it finally did write again to the EDD, it followed up again, instead of waiting further it issued payment the following day, on August 19, 2021. The final tally is 99 days from agreement to payment. I do not believe that to be a reasonable time. (Id., pp. 5-6.)