Mario Almaraz

In this consolidated en banc decision, the WCAB addressed whether and how the AMA Guides portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule may be rebutted under amended Labor Code section 4660. In Almaraz, a truck driver with a back injury argued the WCAB could award disability based on work restrictions rather than the AMA Guides impairment rating; in Guzman, a secretary with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome argued her AME's clinical judgment supported a 15% WPI per upper extremity rather than the 3% derived strictly from the Guides. The Board held that the AMA Guides portion of the 2005 Schedule is rebuttable because section 4660(c) still provides the Schedule is only 'prima facie evidence' of permanent disability. The Board concluded the AMA Guides rating may be rebutted by showing it would result in a permanent disability award that is inequitable, disproportionate, and not a fair and accurate measure of the employee's permanent disability, and that the WCAB may then consider medical opinions not based or only partially based on the Guides. The Board expressly cautioned that its holding does not revive ratings based on any pre-2005 Schedule. Both cases were remanded to the assigned WCJs to determine in the first instance whether the rebuttal standards had been met.