CALIFORNIA CARPET, LLC and ICW GROUP JOSE RIVAS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAJOSE RIVAS, Applicant,vs.CALIFORNIA CARPET, LLC and ICW GROUP, Defendants.Case No. ADJ7908543(Oakland District Office)OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PETITION FOR REMOVAL ANDDECISION AFTER REMOVAL Defendant has filed a timely, verified1 Petition for Removal, requesting that the Appeals Board rescind the Findings and Award dated July 29, 2012, wherein the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found that applicant is entitled to reasonable and necessary medical treatment, including spinal surgery requested by his primary treating physician. Defendant contends that it had complied with all procedures and timelines regarding objections to recommendations for spinal surgery; that applicant waived his objection to untimeliness of the spinal surgery second opinion report; and that the WCJ should have allowed testimony from applicant on the issue of what he was told by the second opinion physician. We have not received an answer from applicant. Applicant, while employed as a floor covering installation person on May 24, 2010, sustained an industrial injury to his lumbar spine and back. On April 6, 2012, his treating physician recommended decompression along the posterior aspect of the L5-S1 level. Defendant denied the surgery after utilization review. Pursuant to Labor Code section 4062(b),2 the Medical Unit of the Division of 1 The petition is not verified. In response to the Report and Recommendation, defendant filed a verification that purports to verify a “Response to Report and Recommendation.” There is no Response. We construe this document as a verification of the Petition for Removal. See Lucena v. Diablo Auto Body (2000) 65 Cal.Comp.Cases 1425 (significant panel decision).2 Unless otherwise specified, all statutory references are to the Labor Code. , Workers’ Compensation assigned James Reynolds, M.D., as second opinion physician on
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