In what appears to be a case of first impression, an Appeals Board panel held in Kos v. Kimes-Morris Construction that Calif. Labor Code § 4663 does not discriminate against age by apportioning to age related pathology. The WCAB held that substantial evidence supported apportionment of 90-percent of the applicant's total permanent disability to non-industrial degenerative disc disease and 10-percent to her 3/18/2002 industrial injury under Calif. Labor Code § 4663, and that even if § 4663, to the extent it allows apportionment to age-related degenerative disc disease, violates FEHA's prohibition against age discrimination in employment (see Calif. Government Code § 12940(a)) and violates Calif. Government Code § 11135, the WCAB must construe Calif. Labor Code § 4663 to effectuate the legislative intent behind the statute that apportionment to causation may be based on age-related degenerative conditions, and must adhere to the later and more specific enactment of Calif. Labor Code § 4663 apportionment statute over earlier more general age discrimination provisions.

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Caution: This decision has not been designated a ``significant panel decision'' by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. Practitioners should proceed with caution when citing to this panel decision and should also verify the subsequent history of the decision. WCAB panel decisions are citeable authority, particularly on issues of contemporaneous administrative construction of statutory language [see Griffin v. WCAB (1989) 209 Cal. App. 3d 1260, 1264, fn. 2, 54 Cal. Comp. Cases 145]. However, WCAB panel decisions are not binding precedent, as are en banc decisions, on all other Appeals Board panels and workers' compensation judges [see Gee v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2002) 96 Cal. App. 4th 1418, 1425 fn. 6, 67 Cal. Comp. Cases 236]. LexisNexis editorial consultants have deemed this panel decision noteworthy because it does one or more of the following: (1) Establishes a new rule of law, applies an existing rule to a set of facts significantly different from those stated in other decisions, or modifies, or criticizes with reasons given, an existing rule; (2) Resolves or creates an apparent conflict in the law; (3) Involves a legal issue of continuing public interest; (4) Makes a significant contribution to legal literature by reviewing either the development of workers’ compensation law or the legislative, regulatory, or judicial history of a constitution, statute, regulation, or other written law; and/or (5) Makes a contribution to the body of law available to attorneys, claims personnel, judges, the Board, and others seeking to understand the workers’ compensation law of California.

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