What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration deniedp. 7
Petition for Reconsideration from WCJ Findings and Award finding industrial COVID-19 death and total dependency of stepchild
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.
WCJ's credibility determinations on trial witnesses entitled to great weight; no evidence of considerable substantiality to reject WCJ's findings on industrial COVID-19 exposure
Stepchild Tessie Serrano was good faith member of household and wholly dependent on decedent; LC 3503 equates stepchildren with children for death benefits purposes
From the decision · page 15The second main issue raised by Defendant’s Petition for Reconsideration is that Tessie Serrano is not entitled to Lab. Code, § 4703.5(a) benefits because she is not presumed to be a “child” of the applicant under Lab. Code, § 3501 because she is a stepchild. This argument is a bridge too far and unsupported by the vast majority of case law.