Scirone, Maria

Maria Scirone, a high school home economics teacher, tripped over a student's backpack and sought a serious and willful misconduct penalty under Labor Code sections 4553 and 4553.1 against her employer, the Conejo Valley Unified School District. She argued that her 962-square-foot culinary arts classroom violated occupancy and minimum square footage standards in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations (and the California Building Code), with 34 students present on the date of injury. The WCJ found no serious and willful misconduct, and the WCAB denied reconsideration, adopting the WCJ's Report. The Board reasoned that the cited regulations were construction/design codes—not Cal-OSHA safety orders—that there was no evidence the employer had actual knowledge of a dangerous condition posing a likely threat of serious injury, and that the conduct fell far short of the quasi-criminal standard required for serious and willful misconduct.