the Court of Appeals decision in
Christian v. WCAB. The court had
allowed multiple penalties for each
missed payment of temporary
disability. The Supreme Court has
overruled that decision.
WCAB
disability on the basis of two
inadmissible reports. The applicant
asked for multiple penalties for each
successive missed payment of TD.
The workers' compensation judge
(WCJ) awarded 11 successive
penalties for the missed TD
payments. The Workers'
Compensation Appeals Board on
Petition for Reconsideration reversed
the WCJ and found only one penalty.
The Court of Appeal Reversed the
Board and found 11 successive
penalties.
major penalty cases in determining
that this case involved only one
unreasonable act in cutting off TD,
which justified only the imposition of
one penalty.
penalties must be applied in some
circumstances, those penalties have
been approved only when the refusal
of, or delay in payment of benefits,
necessarily involved separate and
distinct acts by the insurance carrier.
Those multiple penalties involved
separate classes of benefits...." In
Christian it was not a separate class of
benefits, but only related to the same
class of benefits, TD.
the Board has made an award or
another legally significant event occurs
which unequivocally establishes the
employer's liability, the employer or
carrier may act under a good faith
belief that its conduct is justified.
Notice to the employer or carrier from
the worker of intent to seek penalties
and the employer's or insurance
carrier's opportunity to reconsider its
decision does not create a separate and
distinct act for which imposition of
penalties is authorized by section 5814
simply because the
benefits on receipt of such notice. If a
carrier or employer believes that its
conduct is justified, imposing penalties
on the theory that each notice gives the
insurance carrier the occasion to
reconsider the decision to terminate or
change the amount of benefits
payments would not fairly serve the
deterrent purpose of section 5814.
Instead, employers or carriers would
be compelled, under the coercive force
of those penalties to continue
payments to which they believe a
worker is not entitled simply because
multiple penalties might be assessed if
the worker was able to give repeated
notice of intent to seek penalties for
conduct based on the same decision."
proposition that multiple penalties will
not be awarded for the same act.
However multiple penalties can still be
awarded for separate and distinct acts.
Firm: SAMUELSEN, GONZALEZ,
VALENZUELA, AND SORKOW
Phone: (310) 831-0872
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