Watkins v. City of Santa Ana

California Court of Appeal Feb 11, 1987 No. G001386Published

Before: Wallin

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Holding. The City, as the statutory delegate of PERS, is required to conduct an evidentiary hearing under the Administrative Procedure Act to determine whether a police officer is incapacitated for the performance of duty. The WCAB's exclusive jurisdiction is limited to determining the causation of a disability, not the initial determination of whether a disability exists.

Issues

Does the WCAB have exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether a police officer is incapacitated for duty?
Is the City required to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine a police officer's disability status?
Is the City, as a statutory delegate of PERS, governed by the Administrative Procedure Act in determining disability?

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“The initial determination of whether a local safety employee is disabled from performing his job is made by the city, not the WCAB”

“As the agency responsible for determining disability, the city is thus required to conduct any evidentiary hearing.”

“The trial court is directed to issue a writ of mandate compelling the city to hold an evidentiary hearing in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Opinion

WALLIN, Acting P. J.

—Thomas Lee Watkins appeals from an order denying his petition for writ of mandate and sustaining, without leave to amend, the demurrer by the City of Santa Ana.

[395]

Watkins was employed as a police officer by the City of Santa Ana from April 1972 through June 1981. In August 1982, he applied for workers’ compensation benefits with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) and for disability retirement benefits with the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS).

The Board of Administration (board) for PERS forwarded the disability retirement application to the city for a determination of disability under section 21024 of the Government Code.

The city delayed determining Watkins’s incapacity to perform as a police officer pending the outcome of the WCAB claim.

Apparently tired of waiting for the city to act, Watkins filed a petition for writ of mandate in superior court to compel the city to hold an evidentiary hearing and determine whether he was disabled. The city demurred, contending an evidentiary hearing was not required on an application for disability retirement.

Prior to the hearing on the demurrer, the acting city manager determined Watkins was not incapacitated based on the reports of two doctors. The city’s determination was then certified to the board. Although there is no indication in the record that the board formally denied Watkins’ application for disability benefits, it apparently did so based on the city’s determination.

The city then filed a supplemental declaration in support of its demurrer, attaching its certification and renewing its request that the writ of mandate be denied “in light of the fact that, under Government Code § 21026, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board is now vested with the jurisdiction to detemine whether Mr. Watkins’ alleged disabilities are industrial in nature.” The trial court sustained the city’s demurrer without leave to amend and denied the petition for writ of mandate. It found Watkins had failed to follow the procedural guidelines of sections 21026.1 and 21026.2, and thus had not stated a cause of action for issuance of a writ.

Watkins v. City of Santa Ana

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