Read this Reuters article >>> (link unavailable)
The new system for permanent disability is likely to cut benefits to
injured workers in a draconian way. The State Constitution and the
Supreme Court may be the last bastion defending the "social contract"
that is the workers' compensation system in California. That contract
had injured workers giving up their right to sue employers in return
for...
Partisan politics is back in full force according to this LA Times article>>>
Here's a prediction. "Big Business" and "Big Insurance" will not be
satisfied with the worker's compensation reforms, most of which will
not go into effect until next week and they will make a major attempt
to change the system again. Too many changes, too fast, and the benefit
delivery system is...
Read more about While partisan politics rears its head, here's a prediction...
From the LA Times: "SACRAMENTO — The Schwarzenegger administration has proposed a sweeping
set of regulations aimed at revising how workers' injuries are
evaluated and their compensation is calculated...
Read more about Hurry up regulations will hurt injured workers...
Read this story in the LA Times. (link unavailable) It shows how a small business owner supported the worker's compensation reform, but her insurance premiums went up by 50%. The greed of insurance carriers is clear...
SB899 should have been titled, "The Insurance Carrier Welfare Act." The bill applies to all claims, not matter what injury date in a number of significant ways. The most important of which is the new Labor Code section 4663. These sections allow apportionment to "causation." In other words, if you are older, with weaker joints and bones, and you get injured on the job,...
Read more about Defense attorneys take advantage of new law....
State Compensation has announced premium cuts of 7% (link unavailable). For all of the talk about how reform of the system will cut costs, there is no mechanism to guarantee that if costs are cut, that premiums will be reduced. Watch for the profit announcements from major worker's compensation carriers over the next year.
Field poll says Governator has 65% approval, higher than Davis' highest>>>. (link unavailable)
Since I have been practicing in the area of workers' compensation in California I have muddled through a few transitions. There were reforms in 1990, 1994, the rating schedule changed in 1997, rate increases in 2003, a reform in 2003 and the most recent changes in the law. Each one of these "reforms" and "revisions" have succeeded in complicating the workers' compensation process. They...
News reports seem to indicate that the insurance companies are making profits and that premium reductions will be postponed. See this article for one such report>>> (link unavailable)
"Mixing political pragmatism with the dazzle of a showman" according to this report (archived), the Governor continues to impress politicans on both sides of the aisle.