Pasquinelli

The principal problem on appeal is selection of the appropriate statute of limitations covering claims for disability compensation under Labor Code section 4800, which entitles members of the California Highway Patrol who suffer employment-connected disability “to leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary ... for a period of not exceeding one year.”

Before section 4800 was judicially interpreted, the state authorities viewed the statute as authority for a paid leave of absence only during the highway patrolman’s temporary disability; upon a finding of permanent disability within a year of injury, they terminated the salary payments. Then came Amborn v. Workmen’s Comp. Appeals Bd., 19 Cal.App.3d 953 [ 97 Cal.Rptr. 466 ], filed September 8, 1971. Amborn interpreted section 4800 as a command for salaried leave of absence for up to one year of disability, temporary or permanent, uninterrupted by a finding or award of permanent disability during the year.

The Amborn decision aroused claims for back salary by employees whose paid leave of absence had been terminated under the erroneous administrative interpretation. Petitioner Goff had been injured in the…