Is California’s special fund that provides an extra $5,000 in compensation to qualified injured employees running out of money? The Return-To-Work Supplement Program came within 435 injured workers of spending all of its $120 million allotment during the last fiscal year. Officials say applications are running higher this year. The question now is what will …
Proposals to expand California’s workers’ comp presumptions to more workers fell under Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto, but he signed another measure to continue an existing post-traumatic stress disorder presumption. The successful bill, SB 623 by Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), also calls for the Commission on Health, Safety and Workers’ Compensation to study the presumption …
Governor Gavin Newsom put pen to paper and approved several bills impacting the California workers’ comp system next year and beyond. The measures include new reporting requirements for employers in the construction classifications and another increasing death benefits for some public safety officers. Newsom also approved AB 336 by Assemblyman Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) to require …
A half-dozen bills addressing workers’ comp presumptions for public sector employees, temporary disability benefits, and certain death benefits were enrolled in the legislative session’s final days. They are now awaiting action by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Governor has until October 14th to sign or veto the measures. Enrolled earlier and still awaiting action is …
for violating Labor Code section 3722 last year. The state’s Uninsured Employer Enforcement Program completed 41 inspections last year and had another 51 open at year-end. The program levied nearly $1.8 million in penalties against the employers found operating without valid workers’ comp coverage but collected only $243,310 of the total – a collection rate …
The Assembly Appropriations Committee reviewed 178 fiscal bills last week, including four impacting the workers’ comp system. Of the four workers’ comp bills, one cleared the Committee, and three others were parked in the Committee’s Suspense File for an up or down vote later this month. Clearing the Committee was SB 636 by Sen. Dave …
The California Legislature is on its annual summer recess, but before legislators left Sacramento for their home districts, they advanced nearly a dozen workers’ comp bills before a key deadline. Under legislative rules, bills had to clear the policy committee of the other house to still be considered this year without a rule waiver. The …
The author of SB 636 made good on his word and amended out a provision that would have created a “duty of care” for physicians performing utilization review services for private employers in California. The bill still would require these physicians to be licensed in California, but new amendments would give employers a year to …