By Neelu K. Khanuja, Esq., Founding Attorney at Khanuja Law
A non-essential employer will no longer be able to offer modified work to an injured worker if the employer closes business and lays off the staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to the reasoning in Manpower Temporary Services v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Rodriguez), the injured worker may be entitled to temporary disability indemnity if the business’s closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not considered “good cause” for the layoff. However, the Board in Signature Fruit Co. v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (Ochoa) found that “the essential purpose of temporary disability indemnity is to help replace the wages the employee would have earned, but for the injury, during his or her period(s) of temporary...