Jung, Allison

Allison Jung, a kindergarten teacher for Mt. Diablo Unified School District, sustained a 1994 specific low back injury and continued working in a physically demanding job-share position until retiring in 2014. The WCJ found she sustained a separate cumulative trauma injury to her low back with referred pain to the bilateral feet, with a section 5412 date of injury, and rejected defendant's statute of limitations defense. Defendant petitioned for reconsideration, arguing the claim was time-barred and that QME Dr. McBride's reports did not constitute substantial medical evidence of AOE/COE. The Appeals Board adopted the PWCJ's Report and denied reconsideration, holding that applicant lacked knowledge that her disability was industrially caused (a cumulative trauma) until consulting her attorney, since her prior physician Dr. McIvor had attributed her condition to progression of the 1994 injury. The Board also found Dr. McBride's reporting constituted substantial medical evidence of a new, distinct cumulative injury.