AP Finds Employer has no Right to Appeal ALJ’s Decision
The Appeals Panel has affirmed an ALJ’s Decision and Order that concluded that an employer lacked standing to appeal a Decision to the Appeals Panel. The Decision, Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel Decision No. 190148, was filed March 19, 2019.
The dispute involved two carriers, each of whom had potential liability to the claimant for a work-related injury. Resolution of the dispute turned on whether the first carrier’s insured was the claimant’s employer or the second carrier’s insured.
The ALJ found that the first carrier’s insured was the proper employer, thus imposing liability for workers’ compensation on that employer’s carrier. This employer did not attend the Contested Case Hearing.
Both the carrier and the employer filed separate appeals to the Appeals Panel challenging the ALJ’s resolution of the dispute. The Appeals Panel rejected the carrier’s appeal on the basis that the question presented fact questions that were resolved within the authority of the ALJ to resolve.
The Appeals Panel refused to consider the employer’s appeal of the Decision and Order.
Section 409.011(b)(4) provides that an employer has the right to contest the compensability of an injury if the insurance carrier accepts liability for the payment of benefits. Although the parties stipulated that the claimant sustained damage or harm to the physical structure of his body in the course and scope of his employment on (date of injury), neither carrier 1 nor carrier 2 stipulated that it accepted liability for the payment of benefits for the injury. Employer P does not have standing to appeal the issues in this case and its appeal was not considered. See Appeals Panel Decision (APD) 170773, decided June 5, 2017; APD 93133, decided May 6, 1993, and cases cited therein; APD 960490, decided April 24, 1996.
Consequently, the Appeals Panel affirmed the Decision and Order of the ALJ.
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