Rebelo v. Washington Hospital

In Rebelo v. Washington Hospital (1999) SJ 195868, 27 Cal. Workers' Comp. Rptr. 159, the Board rescinded a WCJ's order and ruled that "the requirements of Labor Code section 3208.3 do not apply to a psychiatric injury that is alleged to be a compensable consequence of a 1996 physical industrial injury." (Id. at p. 160.) Despite the omission effected by the 1993 amendment of subdivision (d), the Board nonetheless "found it worthy of note that the Legislature did not disturb the long-standing rule of compensable consequences when it enacted 3208.3." (Rebelo, at p. 159.) "Although the 'compensable consequence' doctrine has a long-standing foundation in workers' compensation law, the panel continued, compensable consequence injuries are nowhere described in 3208.3. Nor were compensable consequences the subject or focus of the amendments to the statute that were directed to reducing or eliminating psychiatric claims due to stress arising from employment exposure. That is, the legislature was focused on psychiatric injuries resulting from employment events as opposed to the compensable consequences of an admitted physical injury. Thus, the panel was not persuaded that the deleting of the last sentence of 3208.3(d) in 1993 was intended to do away with the compensability of psychiatric consequences of a physical injury." (Id. at pp. 159-160.)