Trader Joe’s Jerry Weissberger WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAJERRY WEISSBERGER, Applicant,vs.TRADER JOE’S, Defendant(s).Case Nos. ADJ6798245, ADJ6864349OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR REMOVAL Defendant has filed a timely petition for removal, requesting that the appeals board reverse the Order Taking Off Calendar issued by the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) at a mandatory settlement conference on November 2, 2009. The WCJ stated: “Parties will complete AME/QME process before reactivating the case.” Defendant contends that it is entitled to litigate threshold issues of post termination and statute of limitations and that denial violates its due process rights; that defendant will incur significant costs, expense and irreparable harm if the threshold issues are not litigated; and that completing the panel qualified medical evaluator process (see Labor Code section 4062.21) could take up to a year. We have not received an answer from applicant. For the reasons set forth by the WCJ in his Report and Recommendation, which we adopt and incorporate herein, we deny the petition. We agree with the WCJ that defendant has not established that it will suffer substantial prejudice or irreparable harm if removal is not granted (see WCAB Rule 10843 (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10843). 1 Unless otherwise specified, all statutory references are to the Labor Code. , On the issue of post-notice of termination or layoff under section 3600(a)(10), defendant’s petition fails to even allege that applicant’s claims were filed after a notice of termination or layoff. Moreover, as pointed out by the WCJ, defendant’s petition alleges that applicant has been under treatment for injuries since October 2006, which was before the alleged specific injury of June 17, 2007, and before the ending date of the alleged cumulative trauma. Therefore, even if there was a pre-claim notice of termination or layof
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