What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied.
Petition for Reconsideration filed by Applicant after Findings and Award denying compensability was issued.
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.
AOE/COEDefendant prevailedpsyche · nervous system
The medical evidence, particularly the PQME Dr. Gilberg's reports, established that the applicant's psychiatric condition was not predominantly caused by employment events but rather by longstanding psychiatric issues predating employment, including schizophrenia and genetic predisposition, thus failing the predominant cause standard under Labor Code section 3208.3.
From the decision · page 1In order to establish the compensability of a psychiatric injury under Labor Code section 3208.3, an injured worker has the burden of establishing "by a preponderance of the evidence that actual events of employment were predominant as to all causes combined of the psychiatric injury." (Lab. Code, § 3208.3(b)(1).) "Predominant as to all causes" means that "the work-related cause has greater than a 50 percent share of the entire set of causal factors." (Dept. of Corrections v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Garcia) (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 810, 816 [64 Cal.Comp.Cases 1356, 1360]; Watts v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2004) 69 Cal.Comp.Cases 684, 688 (writ den.); Rolda v. Pitney Bowes, Inc. (2001) 66 Cal.Comp.Cases 241, 246 (Appeals Board en banc).)