What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied.
Petition for Reconsideration filed by Applicant and denied by the WCAB panel, adopting and incorporating the WCJ report.
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 and WCAB found that 5 Acres made a valid bona fide offer of modified work through letters signed by Trecia Mongal, an HR employee of 5 Acres, and the offer complied with the applicant's medical restrictions. The applicant refused the offer without good cause, thus estopping her from claiming temporary disability.
From the decision · page 5Included with each of the three letters is an unsigned Employee Acknowledgement Form that indicates that the Applicant would remain an employee of 5 Acres while performing alternative or modified duty with Friends Helping Friends, and that this temporary opportunity would not result in employment with Friends Helping Friends. The Applicant would still be expected to comply with 5 Acres' company policies. There is also an indication that the Applicant would continue to be covered under 5 Acres' workers' compensation program (DEFENDANT'S EXHIBIT A-B and JOINT EXHIBIT C). The evidence reflects that the Applicant would remain an employee of Defendant while performing the modified or alternative work.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
5 Acres made a bona fide offer of modified work through letters signed by Trecia Mongal on 5 Acres letterhead.
Favours Defendant prevailed
This established the validity of the offer, which the applicant refused without good cause, leading to denial of temporary disability benefits.
From the decision · page 5Included with each of the three letters is an unsigned Employee Acknowledgement Form that indicates that the Applicant would remain an employee of 5 Acres while performing alternative or modified duty with Friends Helping Friends, and that this temporary opportunity would not result in employment with Friends Helping Friends. The Applicant would still be expected to comply with 5 Acres' company policies. There is also an indication that the Applicant would continue to be covered under 5 Acres' workers' compensation program (DEFENDANT'S EXHIBIT A-B and JOINT EXHIBIT C). The evidence reflects that the Applicant would remain an employee of Defendant while performing the modified or alternative work.
The offer of modified work complied with the medical restrictions given by the applicant's primary treating physician, Dr. John Yong.
Favours Defendant prevailed
The compliance with medical restrictions supported the finding that the offer was bona fide and reasonable.
Applicant refused the bona fide offer of modified work without providing a good cause basis for refusal.
Favours Defendant prevailed
Refusal without good cause estopped the applicant from claiming temporary disability indemnity.
What the panel did with the medical opinions
The role the physician served, and the weight the opinion carried. Physicians are named here as the decision names them; we do not score them.
Provided medical restrictions that were followed in the offer of modified work.
The offer letters followed the restrictions given by Dr. John Yong, the applicant's primary treating physician.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Lab. Code, § 4650-4657; Vittone v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2001) 66 Cal.Comp.Cases 435
Temporary disability indemnity ceases when the employee refuses a bona fide offer of modified work without good cause.
Applied to deny temporary disability benefits due to refusal of bona fide offer of modified work.
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
Applicant's credible testimony that she received multiple offers of modified work from 5 Acres' HR representative Trecia Mongal.
From the decision · page 5Applicant's second argument is that the WCJ's decision is not supported by substantial evidence. Applicant contends that there is no evidence of 5 Acres contacting Applicant after February 2021 with a modified position. Applicant was the sole witness to testify at trial, and testified that she received multiple offers of alternative modified work from 5 Acres' Trecia Mongal. The court found this testimony to be credible. The credibility determinations of the workers' compensation judge are entitled to great weight and should not be disturbed when they are supported by substantial evidence because the judge has the opportunity to observe the demeanor of witnesses and weigh their statements with their manner in testifying, Garza v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1970) 3 Cal. 3d 312, 318-319, 35 CCC 500.
The same issues, filtered across the whole corpus — or paste your own facts and let the search rank by factor match.
About this page
- A published decision of the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, taken apart by what it turned on. The Board publishes the decision itself; this page adds the extraction and quotes the passage behind every claim.
- The injured worker is not named here, and the case caption is not printed. Physicians appear as the decision names them, because a medical opinion is an act in a public proceeding.
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