Theresa Thomas — ADJ10713815, ADJ14897410

Applicant Theresa Thomas suffered an admitted specific injury to her cervical spine from a fall on August 9, 2016, and a separate cumulative trauma injury ending August 9, 2016 to her bilateral wrists (carpal tunnel syndrome) while working as a production associate for Volt Information Sciences. The WCJ issued a Joint Findings and Award combining the disabilities from both injuries to reach a 30% permanent disability rating after apportionment. Both applicant (in pro per, though still represented) and defendant filed petitions for reconsideration. The Board denied applicant's petition (which alleged incorrect benefit rate calculation and AME fraud) and granted defendant's petition (which argued the WCJ erred by combining the two dates of injury and by using occupational variant H rather than examining the proper variant for the wrist rating). The Board rescinded the WCJ's decision and returned the matter to the trial level for further proceedings, while requesting the WCJ consider whether the carpal tunnel impairment requires impairment number 16.01.02.02 corresponding to a J variant.