Hernandez

Code section 4800.5, subdivision (a), provides that a sworn member of the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) who has been disabled by a single work-related injury is entitled to a leave of absence without loss of salary, in lieu of disability payments, for a period not to exceed one year. In a February 2013 decision a workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found Andrew Hernandez, a CHP sergeant, to be temporarily totally disabled from July 18, 2011 to November 8, 2011. Although Hernandez received payments equal to the full amount of his salary during that period, a portion of those sums was charged against his accrued annual vacation leave.

Hernandez petitioned in January 2015 for recovery of the full amount he should have received as paid leave-of-absence benefits under section 4800.5, plus penalties for unreasonable delay under section 5814, subdivision (a), and interest. The WCJ agreed Hernandez was entitled to the relief he had requested, but the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Board), in a divided decision after reconsideration, rescinded her ruling, concluding (1) Hernandez’s claim for reimbursement of accrued leave involved…