Smith v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

In this case the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Board) denied the petition of Catherine C. Smith for relief under Labor Code sec tion 132a. The Board’s decision rests upon an erroneous interpretation of section 132a, and it must be annulled.

I

In Judson Steel Corp. v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (1978) 22 Cal.3d 658, 666-667 [ 150 Cal.Rptr. 250 , 586 P.2d 564 ], the Supreme Court explained the purpose and meaning of section 132a. An employee was off work for 15 months after an industrial injury. The employer’s contract with the union provided that seniority could be revoked in the event of 12 months’ absence from work because of illness or injury, and further that the 12-month period could be extended in cases of “compensable” injury, by agreement between the union and employer. There was no such extension agreement in this instance, and the employee was laid off shortly after his return, in a routine layoff, because his seniority had been revoked. The court stated: “Although section 132a specifically provides sanctions against ‘[a]ny employer who discharges, or threatens to discharge,’ an employee, as the Board in the instant case noted, the provisions of the…