CA - High Court: 60-Day Recon Deadline Not Jurisdictional; Equitable Tolling Inappropriate
08/25/2026 | 0
The California Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's practice of self-tolling the 60-day statutory deadline to rule on petitions for reconsideration.
The court, in Joseph Mayor v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (Ross Valley Sanitation District), held that Labor Code Section 5909, which deems a petition for reconsideration to be denied by operation of law if not acted upon within 60 days, is not fundamentally jurisdictional, acknowledging that there might be some cases where due process permits the WCAB to act outside of the statutory deadl
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California lawmakers appear to have backed away from a proposed five-year pilot project in which district attorneys in Santa Clara and Alameda counties would have handled investigations of workplace accidents resulting in death.
Other changes to AB 2321 would eliminate language that would have required immediate investigations of incidents causing serious injuries, and immediate review of inspection reports for serious violations. A new provision would make it a misdemeanor to willfully resist or interfere with Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigators.
On Friday, Assemblymemb
A campus officer at the Yale University Police Department was arrested and charged with workers' compensation fraud, the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice announced.
Warren Palmer, 59, is accused of receiving $38,656 in indemnity benefits to which he was not entitled, the division said.
Palmer reported injuries to his ribs and abdomen while performing martial arts at the department's training center in November 2025. He was placed on temporary total disability and later transferred to temporary partial disability.
"Documentation showed that while receiving payments, he e
The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld the summary dismissal of a civil suit against a hospital for the death of an immunocompromised emergency room nurse after she contracted COVID-19.
Case: Powell v. Natchez Hospital Co. LLC, No. 2024-CA-01054-COA, 08/18/2026, published.
Facts: Sandra Powell worked as an emergency room charge nurse for Natchez Hospital Co. LLC.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment, including a mastectomy, in 2013.
After the cancer recurred in 2018, Powell received further treatment, including at least three cycles of chemotherapy.
In Decemb
An injured worker picked up her prescription for diclofenac 2% gel, a common generic topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat pain, at her local Walgreens. Walgreens charged $53.64 for the drug.
But the worker was urged to switch pharmacies. She was steered to a “workers’
compensation” pharmacy that charged the employer $2,955.02 for the same drug — more than 55 times the Walgreens price.
There is nothing exceptional about this scenario. Some workers’ compensation pharmacies charge up to 100 times more than normal retail pharmacies.
Workers
The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a compensable injury aggravated a worker’s preexisting ankle condition, which resulted in her need for surgery.
Case: North Arkansas College v. Sparks, No. CV-25-580, 08/19/2026, published.
Facts: Terri Sparks worked for North Arkansas College as a test proctor. She tripped and fell at work in January 2022, injuring her ankle.
In February 2022, Sparks went to Ozark Orthopedic. The notes from that visit state that Sparks had a right ankle sprain from the fall as well as a preexisting ankle injury that underwent arthroscopic debr
The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that a worker’s cervical spine injury claim was time-barred.
Case: Conrad v. Food Lion, No. 0117-25-2, 08/18/2026, unpublished.
Facts: James Conrad was injured in April 2019 while working for Food Lion.
Dr. Bradley C. Carofino diagnosed a right rotator cuff tear and cervical abnormalities, including a disk extrusion and foraminal stenosis, and referred Conrad to Dr. David Clifford, a cervical spine specialist. Conrad underwent shoulder surgery in July 2019 and a second shoulder surgery in August 2020.
In January 2020, Clifford ordered an EMG,
The Utah Supreme Court ruled that an employer waived a limitations defense by not seeking relief on it, and that an administrative law judge’s ruling on the issue did not preserve it for appeal.
Chinyu James Sun worked for Darden Restaurant. He was working in the kitchen at a St. George Olive Garden in July 2020 when he slipped and fell.
Two of Sun’s co-workers helped him to his feet, and he finished his shift.
He filed a workers’ compensation claim but did not notify his employer of his injuries within 180 days of the accident.
Utah Code Section 34A-2-407(2)(a) requ
A recently amended bill would add naturopathic doctors to the list of providers who are allowed to serve as primary treating physicians in California's workers' compensation system.
Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, on Thursday amended SB 1303, a sunset review bill originally intended to authorize the California Board of Naturopathic Medicine to continue operating through 2031, to also propose expanding their scope of practice.
Adding naturopathic doctors to the list of providers included in Labor Code Section 3209.3 would allow them to serve as the primary treating physicians, making the
The Sacramento Bee on Friday reported that the California Department of Industrial Relations has tapped into the revolving fund for projects and expenses that it could not connect to administering the state's workers' compensation system over the last six years.
California employers pay an annual assessment to finance the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund. Labor Code Section 62.5 says money in the account can be used only for the administration of the workers' compensation program and the $120 million Return-to-Work Supplement Program.
The Bee reports
The California Supreme Court will answer whether the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board can apply equitable tolling to act on a petition for reconsideration beyond the 60 days allowed under the Labor Code in a decision set to be published at 10 a.m. Monday.
The high court's opinion in Mayor v. WCAB (Ross Valley Sanitation District) will also address whether the 45-day deadline for a party to appeal to a higher court can also be extended when the board stalls.
In 2024, the 1st Appellate District Court of Appeal ruled that the WCAB exceeded its jurisdiction when it granted reconsidera
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a worker was entitled to expand the scope of his claim and to receive additional medical treatment.
Case: ACNR Resources Inc. v. McGinnis, No. 26-ICA-41, 08/06/2026, published.
Facts: Jared McGinnis worked for ACNR Resources Inc. He went to the hospital in December 2024 and reported that an object had struck his right knee while he was at work, causing him to fall.
The clinical impression was a right knee strain.
McGinnis saw Dr. Charles Milton two days later. Milton’s impression was a lateral knee c
The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that an employer’s responsibility for attorney fees incurred by a worker who pursued a third-party claim is initially subtracted from the amount available in subrogation from the amount the worker recovers, and that the employer is entitled to immediate recoupment of benefits already paid.
Case: K-VA-T Food Stores Inc. v. Blackburn, No. 2025-SC-0335-WC, 08/20/2026, published.
Facts: Chantella Blackburn worked for K-VA-T Food Stores. She suffered work-related injuries in February 2022 when she fell from a stepladder onto a third-party vendor’s cart
The National Council on Compensation Insurance is recommending a 7.4% rate cut, effective Jan. 1, according to the Florida Phoenix.
The media outlet reports that the proposed reduction is driven largely by a reduction in the frequency of lost-time claims.
The website for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation says the NCCI filing submitted Friday is subject to copyright laws and cannot be downloaded, copied or printed.
All NCCI filings have been blocked from public viewing, the agency said.
OIR did not respond to a public records request for a copy of the filing on Friday.
The Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico ruled that the aggregate 700-week limit on benefits requires reducing the death benefit awarded to the widow of a firefighter who died from a form of cancer.
Frank Clark Di Luzio had worked as a firefighter in Santa Fe for more than 20 years when he retired in August 2001. In January 2012, he was diagnosed with mantle cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He became physically unable to work and was disabled from working until he died June 2, 2021, at 66.
Di Luzio filed a workers' compensation claim in June 2012 and was awarded permanent total di
A New York appellate court revived a worker’s negligence claim for his injuries from an alleged fall from a defective ladder.
Case: Liu v. J.H. Electric of New York Inc., No. 2024-10763, 08/12/2026, published.
Facts: James Liu worked for the American Museum of Natural History. The museum hired J.H. Electric of New York Inc. as an independent contractor for a project.
Liu allegedly suffered injuries while climbing a ladder owned by J.H. Electric when one of the rungs cracked, causing him to fall and sustain injuries.
Procedural history: Liu filed suit against J.H. Electric, asserting
