Word v. Industrial Com'n of Arizona

OPINION

FIDEL, Judge.

We hold in this opinion that an administrative law judge (“ALJ”), when awarding workers’ compensation after a hearing, cannot modify a caption to include as an employer an individual who has not received notice of the claim or the opportunity to be heard.

I

The respondent employee (“claimant”), injured in a fall, filed a workers’ compensation claim that listed as his employer “Word or Pacific Mechanical” at 5513 Morning Vista Lane, Cave Creek, Arizona, 85331. The Industrial Commission (“commission”) sent a noninsured employer letter to Pacific Mechanical at the Cave Creek…