“I’m a veteran.”

What will be argued

A service-connected disability will be raised as apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. — the argument that some of your current permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. is attributable to it rather than to the work injury.

The ordinary rules apply, and they help:

Apportionment is to disability, not to a rating from another system. A VA disability percentage is not a California workers’ compensation apportionment percentage, and it does not translate. The two systems rate different things by different methods for different purposes.

Be careful here: Lindh permits apportionment to a pre-existing condition that produced no disability at all. Working your full job without restriction is useful evidence, but it is not the answer — Lindh forecloses that argument. The question is whether substantial medical evidence ties the condition to this disability.

And under EscobedoEscobedo The en banc decision requiring an apportionment opinion to explain how and why. A percentage without reasoning is not substantial evidence., the opinion must explain how and why — a percentage borrowed from a VA rating without independent reasoning is not substantial evidenceSubstantial evidence The standard a medical opinion must meet to support a finding.. How to attack it.

And what it may add

A pre-existing disability plus an industrial injury that together produce a substantially greater disability may support a SIBTFSIBTF Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. Pays where a pre-existing disability plus an industrial injury produce a substantially greater disability. Rewritten by SB 171 in July 2026. claim — the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.

It is paid by a state fund, not by your employer. It is additional money, and it is chronically under-claimed.

The pre-existing disability does not have to be industrial — a service-connected condition can be it.

And SB 171 rewrote SIBTF effective July 2026, retroactively, with a June 1, 2026 grandfather snapshot. Anything written about SIBTF before then describes the old rules. What changed.

Practical points

Disclose the service-connected condition honestly — at the medical-legal evaluation and at your deposition. A prior disability does not defeat a claim, and it may be worth money. Denying one that appears in a record does defeat a claim. More.

VA medical care and workers’ compensation medical care are separate, and treatment for the industrial injury is the employer’s obligation.

And if you work for a public agency, a retirement system disability process may run alongside as well. How those interact.

We are workers’ compensation attorneys, not VA-accredited representatives. Questions about VA claims, ratings, or appeals should go to a VA-accredited representative or a Veterans Service Organization.