Gelson's Markets v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

INTRODUCTION

Labor Code section 132a penalizes an employer who discriminates “in any manner” against an employee who has filed a workers’ compensation claim or received a rating, award, or settlement. An employer, Gelson’s Markets (Gelson’s), petitions this court pursuant to section 5950 seeking annulment of a Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) decision and award which found Gelson’s liable for discrimination against an industrially injured employee, Paul Fowler, because Gelson’s did not accept a physician’s release to allow Fowler to return to work. In making this determination, the WCAB did not apply the standard established by the California Supreme Court in Department of Rehabilitation v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1281 [ 135 Cal.Rptr.2d 665 , 70 P.3d 1076 ] (Lauher). To establish a prima facie case of discrimination prohibited by section 132a, an employee must show that he suffered an industrial injury and that the employer caused him to suffer some detrimental consequence as a result. The employee must also show that the employer singled out the industrially injured worker for disadvantageous treatment because of the industrial nature of…