ADJ213915 — California WCAB decision

ADJ213915 · January 22, 2026

The Appeals Board rescinded the January 18, 2022 Findings and Order and substituted findings that the applicant meets the 35 percent permanent disability threshold from the subsequent industrial injury alone as required by Labor Code section 4751(b). The issues of the start date of SIBTF benefits, credits allowed, and attorney's fees were deferred, and the matter was returned to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

Issues decided

Medical opinions weighed

Authorities named

District office

San Jose

What the panel ordered

Applicant sought reconsideration of the Findings and Order issued on January 18, 2022, which denied his application for Subsequent Injury Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) benefits. The WCJ had found that the applicant did not meet the 35 percent permanent disability threshold under Labor Code section 4751. The Appeals Board granted reconsideration to further study the factual and legal issues and issued a Decision After Reconsideration.

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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.

Discrimination under Labor Code §132aApplicant prevailedspine · bilateral knees · bilateral shoulders · peripheral vascular disease · psyche

The Appeals Board found that the applicant's subsequent permanent disability was 44 percent before apportionment, which meets the 35 percent threshold required by section 4751(b) when considered alone without apportionment, following the Court of Appeals' ruling in Bookout v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.

From the decision · page 7

The rules the panel named

Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.

Labor Code section 4751

The Appeals Board applied section 4751(b) to determine the threshold for subsequent injury benefits, requiring the subsequent injury permanent disability to be 35 percent or more when considered alone without apportionment.

From the decision · page 5If an employee who is permanently partially disabled receives a subsequent compensable injury resulting in additional permanent partial disability so that the degree of disability caused by the combination of both disabilities is greater than that which would have resulted from the subsequent injury alone, and the combined effect of the last injury and the previous disability or impairment is a permanent disability equal to 70 percent or more of total, he shall be paid in addition to the compensation due under this code for the permanent partial disability caused by the last injury compensation for the remainder of the combined permanent disability existing after the last injury as provided in this article; provided, that either (a) the previous disability or impairment affected a hand, an arm, a foot, a leg, or an eye, and the permanent disability resulting from the subsequent injury affects the opposite and corresponding member, and such latter permanent disability, when considered alone and without regard to, or adjustment for, the occupation or age of the employee, is equal to 5 percent or more of total, or (b) the permanent disability resulting from the subsequent injury, when considered alone and without regard to or adjustment for the occupation or the age of the employee, is equal to 35 percent or more of total.

Todd v. Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (2020) 85 Cal.Comp.Cases 576

The Appeals Board cited Todd to outline the elements required to establish entitlement to SIBTF benefits under section 4751.

From the decision · page 6In Todd v. Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (2020) 85 Cal.Comp.Cases 576, 581- 582 [2020 Cal. Wrk. Comp. LEXIS 35] (Appeals Board en banc), we stated that in order to be entitled to SIBTF benefits under section 4751, an employee must prove the following elements:

ADJ213915 · January 22, 2026

What the panel ordered

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The facts that decided it

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