Former Assemblyman Ricardo Lara was back in the Building in his position as California’s Insurance Commissioner to advocate for a pay raise for the fraud investigators employed by the California Department of Insurance. The Commissioner is sponsoring AB 2872 to give the sworn peace officers pay parity with their counterparts at the state’s Department of …
The Assembly Insurance Committee passed one bill allowing compromise and release (C&R) settlements to be signed electronically and one changing notification requirements for injured employees. The latter bill would require workplace posters to include information about employees’ rights to consult an attorney if injured at work. Assemblyman Liz Ortega (D-Hayward) says she is carrying AB …
The Assembly Insurance Committee will hear a bill to give rank-and-file sworn peace officers at the California Department of Insurance a pay raise. The bill would bring the CDI officers’ salaries in line with their counterparts at the state’s Department of Justice. The pay discrepancy between two state government units for the same job has …
Three workers’ comp bills will be reviewed next week by the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee at its hearing. None bode well for California’s beleaguered employers. The measures would create a new presumption for farm workers, expand reimbursements for missed time due to medical visits, and bring back a proposal to extend temporary …
A legislative proposal to allow compromise and release (C&R) settlements to be signed with an electronic signature seems like a simple enough change to improve workers’ comp system efficiency, but it is raising concerns. The concern is the change could make it easier for criminals to commit workers’ comp fraud. The bill, AB 2337 by …
California legislators are setting the stage for the second half of the legislative session by introducing bills to create a single-payer health care system, expand 4850 leave for public safety officers, create a presumption for farmworkers and expand workers’ comp medical benefits for injured workers who have to travel for treatment. Legislators also introduced bills …
Members of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee heard that California has a dismal record of enforcing workplace safety, wage and hour, and anti-retaliation laws in the agricultural sector, including failing to prevent retaliation against farmworkers for filing workers’ comp claims. Committee chair Liz Ortega (D-Hayward) held a special hearing on the issue and promised …
Assemblyman Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) is carrying legislation designed to end California’s use of the ABC test to differentiate between independent contractors and employees. The legislator introduced AB 1928 “to suspend and nullify the California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex Operations and provide that this decision does not apply for purposes of California law.” …