Jose Luis Varas — ADJ2170203

Applicant Jose Luis Varas, a house painter, sustained industrial injury in 1992 to multiple body parts. After determining applicant was a minimum wage earner with weekly earnings of $170, the WCJ awarded temporary disability at a rate of $427.73 based on applying the current 2023 City of Los Angeles minimum wage ($16.04/hour) to applicant's earning capacity. Defendant sought reconsideration, conceding applicant was entitled to current statutory minimum TD rates under section 4661.5 for payments made two or more years post-injury, but disputing the use of the current local minimum wage as the basis for an earning capacity calculation. The Board granted reconsideration and held that section 4661.5 requires application of current statutory TD rates (limits)—not a recalculation of average weekly earnings or earning capacity—to payments made more than two years after injury. The Board found it speculative to base a 1992 earning capacity on the 2023 Los Angeles minimum wage, and amended the TD rate to the 2023 statutory minimum of $242.86 per week.