Panino Santa Ynez; Employers Compensation Insurance Company. Dana Grace WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIADANA GRACE, Applicant,vs. PANINO SANTA YNEZ; EMPLOYERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE COMPANY. Defendants,Case No. ADJ9664433OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PETITIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION Applicant and defendant each seek reconsideration of a workers’ compensation administrative law judge’s (WCJ) Findings of Fact and Award of November 13, 2019 wherein it was found that, while employed on January 18, 2013 as a server, applicant sustained admitted industrial injury to her back, upper and lower gastrointestinal systems, psyche and in the form of sleep disorder, causing permanent total (100%) disability and the need for further medical treatment. As relevant to the instant petitions for reconsideration, it was found that applicant’s average weekly earnings were $473.00 per week, entitling her to permanent total disability indemnity of S315.33 per week before taking into account any yearly cost of living adjustments pursuant to Labor Code section 4659(c). Both applicant and defendant contend that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant’s average weekly earnings were $473.00 per week. Applicant contends that the earnings found by the WCJ do not factor in applicant’s higher earning capacity, given the scheduled increase in the state minimum wage (Lab. Code, § 1182.12), and given applicant’s pre-injury plans of becoming an attorney or working in the legal field. Defendant contends that the WCJ erred in relying on applicant’s testimony of working an average of 33 hours per week for SI 1.50 per hour, when payment records show that applicant’s top wage was $11.00 per hour, and her hours were irregular, and averaged less than 33 hours per week in the year preceding her injury. Each party has filed an Answer to the other’s Petition, and the WCJ has filed a separate Report and Recommendation on Petition for Recons
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