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Major Amendments Before Summer Recess

As the California Legislature approached its Summer Recess, the workers’ compensation community was not unlike the old traditional James Bond martini – shaken, not stirred. The year began with no expectations of significant legislation dealing with workers’ compensation per se, although the California Applicant Attorneys Association (CAAA) has two pieces of legislation, Assembly Bill 1107 … Read More »

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Privacy, Worker Classifications And Presumptions Top  The Legislative Agenda

The annual bill introduction period is behind us and among the 2,600+ bills introduced are proposals to exempt the workers’ comp system from new consumer privacy rules; expand, constrain and/or in one case carve out exceptions to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex; and numerous presumption measures. Efforts are also underway to expand coverage for … Read More »

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Governor’s Action on Workers’ Comp Bills

Not every major event in a legislative session can be measured by a bill that gets signed into law. Such is the case this year when Governor Brown vetoed Assembly Bill 479 (Gonzales Fletcher) and Senate Bill 899 (Pan). AB 479 was an attempt to address how certain impairments resulting from industrial breast cancer would … Read More »

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UR Physicians – No Malpractice Lawsuits

The California workers’ comp industry let out a collective sigh relief when the California Supreme Court, today, handed down its decision in King v. CompPartners. The ruling upheld the workers’ compensation act’s exclusive remedy provisions. Concerns were that a contrary decision would have had a chilling effect on the utilization review (UR) and independent medical … Read More »

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Two Standards

The California Supreme Court has effectively created two different standards for determining proper classification – one for wage and hour issues and another for determining whether a worker is an employee for workers’ comp coverage. The decision makes it easier for more independent contractors to be considered employees for wage and hour purposes under California … Read More »

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Massive Appellate Loss for Applied Underwriters’

A California Court of Appeal just handed Applied Underwriters a significant defeat. The case will affect Applied negatively in its numerous battles with California employers formerly enrolled in its EquityComp … Read More »

Opioid Crisis – Access to Patient Data

Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization. Per its charter, Shatterproof is, “…dedicated to ending the devastation addiction causes families”. Its work goes beyond the specific issues surrounding opioids to a much larger agenda to fundamentally change the way in which addiction is viewed by the medical community, policymakers, and society in general. Certainly, part of … Read More »

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America’s Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis in America is not a recent development. It has as its genesis a wide range of causes, from efforts to treat chronic pain to diversion of drugs manufactured legally within the United States to the heroin trade in South America and, more recently, to the illicit manufacturing of synthetic opioids in China. … Read More »

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