State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

Opinion

COMPTON, J.

We are called upon once again to interpret Labor Code section 5814, which expressly provides that “When payment of compensation has been unreasonably delayed or refused, either prior to or subsequent to the issuance of an award, the full amount of the order, decision or award shall be increased by 10 percent....”

This seemingly simple statute has been the subject .of considerable litigation and its interpretation has posed difficulties for the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) and the appellate courts.

Labor Code section 5814 “is explicit and clear” (Adams v. Workers’…