Narcio Reyes Pedroza — ADJ19294102

Narcio Reyes Pedroza worked as a handyman/maintenance person for Mech 23, Inc., a general contractor, beginning in late 2023 and was initially paid as an individual. Roughly three months in, Mech 23 required him to obtain liability insurance naming Mech 23 as a covered party and to sign a subcontractor agreement; two days after signing, he was injured when a screw struck his eye while finishing a Sephora door repair that Mech 23 had dispatched him to weeks earlier. The WCJ found Reyes was an employee (not an independent contractor), that the claim was untimely denied, and that the injury was compensable. The Board granted reconsideration solely to amend Finding of Fact 1 to specify Reyes sustained industrial injury to his eye (deferring other body parts) and to clarify that the section 5402 presumption of compensability applies to injury, not employment, otherwise affirming and adopting the WCJ's Report. The Board emphasized defendant failed to prove independent contractor status under Borello, the ABC/Dynamex test, and Labor Code 2781, and also failed to show applicant was insured for workers' compensation.