El Brillante Labor Contracting; Star Insurance Company, administered By Meadowbrook Insurance, Agustin Valdez, WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAAGUSTIN VALDEZ,Applicant,vs.EL BRILLANTE LABOR CONTRACTING; STAR INSURANCE COMPANY, administered by MEADOWBROOK INSURANCE,Defendants.Case No. ADJ7351074(Stockton District Office)OPINION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION We previously granted applicant’s Petition for Reconsideration of the Findings and Award1 (F&A) issued on January 5, 2017, by the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ), inorder to further study the factual and legal issues. This is our Opinion and Decision AfterReconsideration. Applicant seeks removal or in the alternative reconsideration of the F &A, which granted defendant’s request to strike the reporting of agreed medical evaluator (AME) Oscar Abeliuk, M.D., but barred defendant’s request for a qualified medical evaluator (QME) panel because the parties did not rescind the AME agreement by mutual consent in writing. Applicant contends that although the AME failed to timely complete supplemental reporting, Administrative Director (AD) Rule 38(i) (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 38) does not allow the remedy of replacing an AME who has not timely reported. Applicant further contends that pursuant to Labor Code2, section 4062.2(f) an AME cannot be stricken absent mutual written consent of the parties. We received an answer from defendant. The WCJ filed a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration (Report) recommending that we deny removal and reconsideration. 1 The F&A is captioned as a “Findings and Award” however, this appears to be clerical error. No award issued.2 All future references are to the Labor Code unless noted. , We have considered the allegations of the Petition for Removal and/or Reconsideration, the Answer, and the WCJ’s Report. Based on our review of the record and for the reasons discusse
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