Andres Gomez was injured while working for the Vons Companies Inc. He was issued two Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit (SJDB) vouchers for two injuries that occurred on January 29, 2007 and March 3, 2007, which were issued on July 17, 2017.

$3,163.82 in unused voucher funds were returned to the employer from the program he had chosen and provided the vouchers . Gomez attempted to recover the unused benefit which the employer rejected because these two vouchers expired on July 17, 2019, two years after they were issued, even though there were unused funds left over

At trial, Gomez pointed out that that even though the vouchers were issued on July 17, 2017, he did not sign them until October 24, 2018 and that the employer then delayed eight months in releasing the voucher funds, which was done on June 13, 2019.

Nonetheless, the WCJ found, that the two Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit (SJDB) vouchers that applicant received expired two years after they were issued, and that Labor Code, section 4658.5 prohibits payment or reimbursement of unused funds after the vouchers expired.

Reconsideration was denied in the panel decision of Gomez v the Vons Companies Inc – ADJ504245-ADJ1796774 (November 2022).

Gomez contends on reconsideration that the vouchers should not be deemed expired and that instead they should be deemed “used” when he signed the vouchers and selected a retraining program.

Section 4658.5(d) provides that a “voucher issued after January 1, 2013, shall expire two years after the date the voucher is furnished to the employee or five years after the date of the injury, whichever is later.” (§ 4658.5(d).) “The employee shall not be entitled to payment or reimbursement of any expenses that have not been incurred and submitted with appropriate documentation to the employer prior to the expiration date.” (§ 4658.5(d).)

“The two vouchers here at issue for injuries dated January 29, 2007 and March 3, 2007 were issued on July 17, 2017. Per section 4658.5(d), these two vouchers expired on July 17, 2019.“

“Even if, under a liberal interpretation, we toll the expiration date of the two vouchers by eight months, which was a delay that applicant suffered through no fault of his own, the tolled expiration date of the vouchers would be March 17, 2020. The welding school applicant chose for retraining returned $3,163.82 in unused voucher funds to defendant on December 31, 2020, which is after the tolled expiration date of March 17, 2020.”

“Therefore, even if we take into account the eight-month delay caused by defendant, the vouchers would still have expired by the time they were returned. Section 4658.5(d) is clear that applicant is not entitled to reimbursement of any expenses that have not been incurred and submitted prior to the expiration date. Accordingly, we deny reconsideration.”