Gonzales, Coreen

Applicant Coreen Gonzales sought removal of a WCJ's F&O that allowed defendant to take her deposition before producing video footage of the workplace altercation that allegedly caused her injury. The WCJ analogized the footage to sub rosa surveillance under Downing v. City of Hayward, holding it need not be produced pre-deposition to preserve the ability to test applicant's credibility. The Appeals Board reclassified the petition as one for reconsideration (because the parties' stipulations included threshold issues like employment), then applied the removal standard since only an interlocutory discovery issue was challenged. The Board rejected the sub rosa analogy, reasoning that the footage depicted the actual injury incident, not post-injury activities, and that broadening Downing would allow defendants to withhold virtually any evidence pre-deposition. The Board further noted defendant had already shown applicant the video once after the incident, undermining any credibility-testing justification. The Board amended the F&O to incorporate the stipulations and ordered defendant to produce the video before applicant's deposition.