Sampson Parker worked as a bus driver for AC Transit in December 2016 when he injured his his left leg, left ankle, left foot, and right wrist.Following his injury, he underwent multiple surgeries.

The last surgery occurred on October 15, 2019, when he underwent the placement of a revision intramedullary tibial nail placed in a locking fashion along with an open reduction, internal fixation (ORIF) utilizing two plates and screws for fixation along with the implantation of bone morphogenic protein and that the surgery caused a shortening of his left lower leg.

On February 8, 2021, his primary treating physician, Scott Petersen, M.D., issued a report stating that he was maximally medically improved. Dr. Peterson’s physical examination revealed that his left leg was six centimeters shorter than the right. Dr. Petersen described the last surgical procedure as a “limb shortening surgery.”

On May 18, 2021, the matter proceeded to trial on the issues of whether he qualified for the amputation exception to the 104 week cap on temporary total disability indemnity and if so, whether his entitlement to receive temporary disability indemnity would run continuously or whether it would stop after 104 weeks had been paid and resume on the date of the last surgery.

A Findings and Award issued concluding that the surgical removal of bone from Parker’s left lower extremity combined with a shortening of the limb constituted an amputation pursuant to Labor Code section 4565(c)(3)(C), and that he was entitled to receive temporary disability indemnity for the period beginning on December 17, 2018 and continuing through February 7, 2021.

Reconsideration of this finding was denied in the panel case of Parker v AC Transit (ADJ10741808).

The Labor Code provides that for an employee who suffers from the certain injuries or conditions (in this case an amputation), aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on or after April 19, 2004, causing temporary disability shall not extend for more than 240 compensable weeks within a period of five years from the date of the injury. Otherwise the limit is 104 weeks.

In Cruz v. Mercedes-Benz of San Francisco, (2007) 72 Cal. Comp. Cases 1281, 1283 (Appeals Board en banc), the Appeals Board defined “amputation” as “the severance or removal of a limb, part of a limb, or other body appendage.”

It is undisputed that as a result of a “limb shortening surgery,” Parker lost approximately two inches from his left lower extremity, a protruding external body part. The amputation exception does not require the severance of an entire body part