Dictionaries and Out-of-State Authority Can Close SB 863 'Loopholes'

Senate Bill 863 purports to place limits on the awarding of permanent disability benefits for mental injuries, but the failure of lawmakers to define the key terms in the exceptions they carved out to the new general rule against compensability may undermine what the California Legislature had set out to do, applicants' attorneys say.As amended by the reform bill, Labor Code Section 4660.1 now provides that a worker cannot receive an increase in his  impairment rating or permanent disability award for sleep, sex or psyche conditions arising out of a compensable physical injury, unless...