The First District Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court decision finding that Labor Code section 3364.5 blocks a negligence lawsuit filed by the family of a school volunteer who was killed while helping out with a food giveaway. The section allows school volunteers to be considered employees for workers’ comp purposes, meaning workers’ comp …
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ initial report detailing the market shares of the nation’s largest workers’ comp carriers shows little change in ranking among the biggest carriers. The top 14 carriers are the same and in the same order as in 2023. Overall, the top 25 carriers had a combined market share of 67% …
Legislators introduced a pair of bills that revive ideas that had been killed off in past sessions. One bill brings back a proposal for a state-run medical provider network (MPN), while the other revives a heat illness presumption for privately employed farmworkers that was vetoed last year. Assemblyman Esmeralda Soria (D-Merced) is carrying AB 1498 …
Legislative proposals affecting the California workers’ comp industry were trickling in as the deadline for bill introductions neared. Early measures are focusing on public safety officers, brought back the concept of a private sector presumption, and put a target on employer premium fraud. SB 536 by Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) aims to crack down …
The Second District Court of Appeal says a lower court correctly dismissed a Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) claim that accused an employer of failing to provide reasonable accommodation when the injured worker failed to request any reasonable accommodation. The court also rejected a contention that the employer was required to ensure its employees …
The California Labor Commissioner issued citations totaling $2.3 million against Amity In-Home Care Services for allegedly misclassifying some of its workers as independent contractors, failing to properly pay wages, and maintaining adequate workers’ comp coverage. The Commissioner is using her new legislative authority to collect the civil penalties on behalf of the misclassified workers instead …
Workplace safety and workers’ comp professionals in California say a proposed Cal/OSHA regulation is treading into the workers’ comp sphere. The current proposal for a workplace violence standard includes a mandate for post-incident trauma counseling. Safety professionals are pushing back against the treatment requirement while it is still in proposed form. The Standards Board has …
A nonprofit theater company is asking the California Department of Insurance’s Administrative Hearing Bureau to intervene in a premium audit dispute with its workers’ comp carrier over a minimum premium charge for two executive officers. But the situation is not so simple. Jabberwocky Theatre Company, a nonprofit performing arts company, filed the request for assistance …