Teresa Godinez

Applicant Teresa Godinez sustained a work injury on June 18, 2000. The Rehabilitation Unit (RU) issued a vocational rehabilitation determination on July 17, 2003, which defendant sought to appeal. Defendant's appeal was date-stamped as received by the WCAB District Office in San Jose on August 5, 2003, but was mistakenly forwarded by a clerk to the RU rather than processed as an Appeals Board filing. The WCJ dismissed the appeal as untimely under former Labor Code section 4645(d). The Appeals Board granted reconsideration and reversed, holding that despite the 2003 repeal of section 4645, its 20-day timeliness rule remains a 'ghost statute' governing appeals for pre-January 1, 2004 injuries, and that defendant's appeal, filed within 19 days at the District Office, was timely. The matter was returned to the trial level for a decision on the merits.