Bechtel Corporation & Industrial Indemnity Insurance Company v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

In Bechtel Corporation & Industrial Indemnity Insurance Company v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (1999) 64 Cal.Comp.Cases 661, the Board affirmed a WCJ's ruling and declined to apply section 3208.3, subdivision (d)'s six-month employment provision to a 1994 claim of psychiatric injury as a compensable consequence of admitted industrial injuries to the claimant's back (as opposed to " 'an independent or separate psychiatric injury claim' ") absent specific language from the Legislature or any appellate authority. (Bechtel, at p. 662.) The Board did not believe the 1993 amendments had undermined the Hansen court's conclusion " 'that the overriding purpose and the focus of the Legislature in enacting that section was to eliminate questionable psychiatric claims arising from short-term employment exposure.' " (Ibid.) Division Three of this court denied the employer's writ petition. ( Id. at p. 663.)