Barajas, Gabriela

Gabriela Barajas, a packer for Gruma Corporation/Mission Foods from 1986 to 2017, was found by the WCJ to have sustained industrial injury to multiple body parts and to have 88% permanent disability based on the addition (rather than combination via the Combined Values Chart) of certain impairments per AME Dr. Newton's reporting. Defendant sought reconsideration challenging the ROM methodology used for the spine, the fibromyalgia findings, and the addition rather than combination of disabilities. The Appeals Board granted reconsideration, rescinded the F&A, and substituted new findings that preserved the injury and temporary disability determinations but deferred permanent disability and attorney fees. The Board found the AME's reporting predated and did not address its recent en banc decision in Vigil v. County of Kern, which clarified the analysis required to rebut the CVC by adding rather than combining impairments. The matter was returned to the trial level for development of the record.