PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP and ATHENS ADMINISTRATORS MICHAELYNN TROTTER WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAMICHAELYNN TROTTER, Applicant,vs.PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP and ATHENS ADMINISTRATORS, Defendants.Case No. ADJ7244506 (Oakland District Office)OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FORRECONSIDERATION Applicant seeks reconsideration of the November 28, 2011 Findings of Fact, wherein the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found that the applicant, while employed on October 13, 2008 by the Permanente Medical Group, sustained an industrial injury to her low back and left knee. The WCJ issued an Opinion on Decision, wherein she opined that the applicant did not have any disability as a result of her left knee injury. Applicant contends that the WCJ erred in stating in her Opinion on Decision that applicant’s injury “did not result in any disability to her left knee.” (November 28, 2011 Opinion on Decision.) We have considered the Petition for Reconsideration, and we have reviewed the record in this matter. We have received an answer from the defendant. The WCJ has filed a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration (Report), recommending that the petition be granted to strike the last sentence of her Opinion on Decision. For the reasons discussed below, we will deny reconsideration. Pursuant to Labor Code section 5313, the WCJ’s decision must be accompanied by “a summary of the evidence received and relied upon and the reasons or grounds upon which the determination was made.” (Lab. Code, § 5313.) The WCJ’s Opinion on Decision is an explanation of the WCJ’s decision and does not have the effect of a decision. We may only grant reconsideration of an order, decision, or award. (Lab. Code §5900.) The last sentence of the Opinion on Decision was improper and extraneous, , but it does not have the effect of an order, decision, or award. Therefore, we will deny applicant’sPetition f
Menu
