Labor Code section 4754
(a)
The appeals board shall fix and award the amounts of SIBTF benefits to be paid under this article, and shall direct the director, as trustee or administrator of SIBTF, to pay the additional compensation awarded.(b)
For the purposes of determining eligibility for SIBTF benefits and the amount of an award of SIBTF benefits, all of the following shall apply:(1)
The preexisting disability or impairment’s existence and effect on the employee’s ability to engage in work shall be found by a medical evaluator in a medical-legal report that constitutes substantial evidence and documented in medical evidence in existence prior to the subsequent industrial injury. The evidentiary presumption established in subdivision (b) of Section 4664 does not apply.(2)
The degree of prior permanent partial disability shall be rated as the disability is determined to have existed on the date of the subsequent compensable injury.(3)
For purposes of determining whether the degree of permanent disability caused by the subsequent compensable injury meets the threshold requirements for an award of SIBTF benefits as set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 4751, whole person impairment percentage ratings for multiple body parts shall not be added, but shall be combined with the subsequent compensable injury.
Source:
Section 4754, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=4754. (updated Jul. 13, 2026; accessed Jul. 27, 2026).
