Amborn

Howard Amborn, the applicant in a workmen’s compensation proceeding, petitioned this court for review of the final award made therein. For the reasons hereinafter stated, we (1) granted the writ of review and (2) annul the award.

In the “Findings and Award” filed by the Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board referee, the latter found that petitioner sustained an industrial injury to his heart on November 25, 1968, as the result of the stress of his duties as a highway patrolman in the employ of respondent State of California, Department of the Highway Patrol; that the injury caused temporary total disability from November 25, 1968, through May 1, 1969; and that the injury caused permanent disability rated at 66 percent. Based upon these findings, the referee awarded petitioner permanent disability payments at the rate of $52.50 per week, for 264 weeks and commencing May 9, 1969.

The foregoing matters are not disputed for present purposes; the question before us arises from the fact that Labor Code section 4800 entitled petitioner, as an industrially disabled member of the California Highway Patrol, to “leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary, in lieu of…