GAEL FORCE CONSTRUCTION; and STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE I FUND, GUSTAVO CORDON, WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAGUSTAVO CORDON, Applicant,vs.GAEL FORCE CONSTRUCTION; andSTATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND, Defendant(s).Case No. ADJ3130090 (SFO 0488450)OPINION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION We granted the petition for reconsideration of defendant, State Compensation Insurance Fund, to allow time to further study the record and applicable law. We now issue our Decision After Reconsideration. Defendant sought reconsideration of the Findings and Award issued by the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) on September 25, 2007. In that decision, the WCJ found in relevant part that applicant’s stipulated injury to his right ankle and right foot, which he sustained on February 17, 2005, had caused 42% permanent disability. In reaching this permanent disability determination, the WCJ concluded in essence that, based on the testimony of applicant’s vocational rehabilitation expert witness, applicant had rebutted the diminished future earning capacity (DFEC) portion of the current Schedule for Rating Permanent Disabilities (the 2005 Schedule). Therefore, the WCJ took the standard rating for applicant’s whole person impairment under the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (5th Edition, 2001) (AMA Guides) and multiplied that standard rating by 6. In pertinent part, the WCJ further found that applicant’s actual earnings of the time of injury were $500 per week. The WCJ also awarded $6,297.50 for applicant’s vocational rehabilitation expert’s reports and testimony as a cost against defendant under Labor Code section 5811. , In its petition, defendant contends in substance: (1) the WCJ allowed evidence on the DFEC issue to be presented before that issue was ripe; (2) the finding on the DFEC issue is not supported by substantial evidence; (3) the WCJ overstepped h
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