Baker

*1043 We granted the petition for writ of review in this matter to answer a previously unresolved question: At what point does the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, the state fund that pays workers' compensation benefits to certain permanently disabled workers, begin to owe those benefits to a qualifying applicant? We conclude that under the controlling statutes, Subsequent Injuries Benefits *763 Trust Fund benefits commence at the time the employer's obligation to pay permanent disability benefits begins. We will therefore affirm the decision of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.

I. BACKGROUND

A. THE SUBSEQUENT INJURIES BENEFITS TRUST FUND

California has long had in place laws requiring employers to compensate workers who are injured on the job. The purpose of this legislation is to provide an efficient mechanism for paying medical expenses and replacing *1044 lost wages of injured workers, without the need to determine who is at fault for causing the injury and without protracted litigation. (See Labor Code § 3200 et seq. Unspecified statutory references are to this code.) The workers' compensation bargain is that in exchange for giving up the ability to seek…