- Public Hearing Set for Adoption of COVID-19 Treatment Guidelineon January 15, 2021 at 10:41 AM
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has issued a notice of conference call public hearing for a proposed evidence-based update to the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule (MTUS), which can be found at California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 9792.24.7.
The conference call public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 18, at 10 a.m. and members of the public may attend by calling 866-390-1828 and using access code 5497535#. Members of the public may review and comment on the proposed updates. Written comments must be submitted no later than February 18. Please see the proposed regulation page for direction for submitting written comments.
The proposed evidence-based update to the MTUS incorporate by reference the latest published guideline from American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) for the following:
-- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guideline (ACOEM December 14, 2020)
The 99 page guideline contains an analysis of the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatment using the following:
-- Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine.
-- Azithromycin.
-- Favipiravir.
-- lopinavir-ritonavir.
-- Remdesivir.
-- low-Molecular-Weight Heparin.
-- IL-6 Receptor Antagonists (Tocilizumab, Sarilumab, and Siltuximab).
-- Baricitinib.
-- Casirivimab plus lmdevimab.
-- Bamlanivimab.
-- Convalescent COVID-19 Antibodies.
-- Glucocorticosteroids.
-- Interferon Beta-lb.
-- Ribavirin.
-- Zinc.
-- Vitamin D.
The proposed evidence-based update to the MTUS regulations are exempt from Labor Code sections 5307.3 and 5307.4 and the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. However, DWC is required under Labor Code section 5307.27 to have a 30-day public comment period, hold a public hearing, respond to all the comments received during the public comment period and publish the order adopting the update online.
- Man Arrested for $3.5M N95 Mask Fraud with Bay Area victimson January 15, 2021 at 10:41 AM
Federal prosecutors for the Northern District of California filed an indictment charging defendant Rodney L. Stevenson II with wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering for his operation of an e-commerce site that claimed to have N95 masks for sale during the current COVID-19 epidemic.
Stevenson operated EM General, a company created in September 2019, which purported to sell N95 masks with N99 filters. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, EM General and its website, controlled by Stevenson, advertised that it had N95 masks "in stock" and available for shipping.
EM General sold many of these masks for as much as $24.95 each. Also according to the indictment, to bolster the legitimacy of EM General, Stevenson created a professional-looking website that included the names, backstories, and stock photographs of a group of fake EM General executives.
It also falsely described how long the company had been in business, its sales volume, and its reputation. Stevenson also used fictitious names in emails to customers.
The indictment alleges that, as the pandemic worsened and demand for N95 masks increased dramatically, EM General’s sales skyrocketed. EM General’s total sales from approximately on or about February 11, 2020, to approximately on or about March 8, 2020, were approximately $3,500,000 involving over 25,000 customers, the vast majority of which were sales of N95 masks that were never delivered to customers. This amount included over $900,000 in sales on February 28, 2020, alone.
Bay Area residents thought they were buying much needed N95 masks from EM General, but according to the criminal complaint Stevenson had no intention of delivering masks. "What's described in the complaint is a consumer nightmare of fake web pages and false promises," said US Attorney for the Northern District of California, David Anderson.
Stevenson and EM General delivered almost none of the masks. Instead, when customers complained and asked for refunds, Stevenson, at times communicating with Gmail accounts he created under the names of fake identities, generally refused to refund customers and instead offered a series of lies to fraudulently prolong his scheme while he continued selling masks.
These lies included that EM General could not offer refunds because it had already paid for the customer’s order from a manufacturer, that products would ship soon, and that customers would receive tracking orders soon. For a small number of customers, Stevenson eventually fraudulently substituted masks that did not meet the standards set by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health for N95 or N99 masks, meaning that they did not filter out 95 or 99 percent of particulate matter from the air.
Stevenson is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 1343; one count of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341; five count of laundering of monetary instruments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i); and one count of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957.
- CWCI Report Shows COVID Comp Claims Tripled Prior Monthson January 14, 2021 at 12:04 PM
A California Workers’ Compensation Institute analysis of claims reported to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation as of January 11 shows that the number of COVID-19 claims in the California workers’ compensation system more than tripled between October and November, then jumped another 64.2% to a record 23,483 claims in December. A new projection shows that the December total could climb to 37,573 cases once claims that are yet to be filed or still under investigation are added to the tally.
The latest figures show that after falling to a 6-month low in September, monthly COVID-19 claim counts began trending up in October as the fall wave of coronavirus cases hit the state.
Although not all November and December claims have been reported, the initial data from those months shows that as of the January 11, the DWC had recorded 14,298 COVID-19 claims with November injury dates, and a record 23,483 COVID-19 claims from December.
That year-end surge pushed the number of COVID-19 claims reported to the DWC for accident year (AY) 2020 to 93,470, which is 15.7% of all 2020 claims reported to the state, though with the recent spike, that proportion rose to 28.7% of all work injury claims reported for November and 47.4% of all claims reported for December.
The AY 2020 COVID-19 claim count includes 464 death claims -- up 21.7% from the 381 death claims reported as of December 28 -- which means COVID-19 death claims accounted for nearly half (48.0%) of the 966 work-related death claims recorded by the state for AY 2020.
Additional year-end claims continue to be filed, and CWCI’s projected COVID-19 claim count based on historical claim development that accounts for delays in COVID-19 claim reporting estimates that ultimately there will be 16,872 claims from November, and 37,573 claims from December, far surpassing the previous monthly record of 15,537 COVID-19 claims projected for July.
With hundreds of thousands of California jobs lost during the pandemic, and many workers in the state continuing to work remotely, DWC has recorded only 594,840 work injury claims for AY 2020, down 13.5% from 667,942 claims for AY 2019, despite the addition of the 93,470 COVID-19 claims.
However, the year-over-year decline in claim volume is only 6.5% if CWCI’s updated projection of the ultimate claim count for AY 2020 is used.
Other recent results show that health care workers’ share of the COVID-19 claims has declined from 44.7% in the first quarter of 2020 to 28.8% in the fourth quarter; males and younger workers continue to account for a growing share of the COVID-19 claims; and COVID-19 claim denial rates hit a 6-month high of 36.9% in October, though the denial data on claims from the last two months of 2020 is too green to be reliable.
Denial rates vary significantly by industry, with October claim denial rates ranging from 12.8% for utility workers to 66.8% for transportation workers. Many COVID-19 claims are denied because the claimants do not test positive for the virus.
The latest results on California workers’ comp COVID-19 claims are from the January 11 update to CWCI’s COVID-19/Non-COVID-19 Interactive Claim App, which integrates data from CWCI, DWC, and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics to provide information on California work injury claims from comparable periods of 2019 and 2020. The app is updated biweekly and is available to the public here.
- Camarillo Insurance Brokers Face $687K Premium Fraud Chargeson January 14, 2021 at 12:04 PM
Licensed insurance agents Robert Farmer, 65, of Camarillo, and Marion Urcan, 67, of Agoura Hills, were arraigned in Los Angeles County Superior Court on multiple counts of grand theft after allegedly accepting over $687,000 in insurance premium payments from business owners and misappropriating the money for their personal use.
Farmer and Urcan, doing business as Centerpointe Insurance Services Limited in Camarillo, accepted insurance premium payments from two towing companies in the Los Angeles area.
On June 20, 2019, the California Department of Insurance received a complaint from the owner of one of the towing companies that alleged Centerpointe Insurance Services Limited accepted two checks totaling $391,000 for the company’s commercial auto insurance policy, but Farmer and Urcan did not forward these premium payments to the insurance company.
On December 20, 2019, the Department received a complaint from the other towing company that alleged Centerpointe embezzled a $50,000 down payment made toward the renewal of the towing company’s commercial auto insurance policy.
An investigation by the Department of Insurance revealed Farmer and Urcan accepted over $687,000 in total from the two towing companies but never sent the payments to an insurance company to secure liability insurance for either business owner, leaving them vulnerable to catastrophic loss.
The Department of Insurance is taking the appropriate administrative action against the licensees. Anyone who has been victimized or knows someone who has been victimized by either Farmer or Urcan, please call 661-253-7500.
They are scheduled to return to court on March 5, 2021. This case is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
- Union Asks Supreme Court to Invalidate Prop 22 Gig Measureon January 13, 2021 at 11:10 AM
A major labor union and several ride-hailing drivers are suing to overturn a newly passed ballot measure classifying gig workers as independent contractors in California.
The Washington Post reports that the groups filed suit Tuesday in California’s Supreme Court, alleging Proposition 22 violates the state constitution and limits the power of state legislators to implement certain worker protections they are authorized to grant.
The suit, filed by Service Employees International Union and a group of ride-hailing drivers, asks the state Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 22, which cemented gig driver’s status as independent contractors after more than 58 percent of voters supported it in November.
They argue the measure limits state legislators’ ability to implement a system of workers' compensation in defiance of their constitutional authority to do so. It also argues that the proposition unconstitutionally defines what comprises an amendment to the measure, as well as violating a rule limiting ballot measures to a single subject to prevent voter confusion.
The Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition, which represents gig companies such as Uber, Lyft and Doordash, criticized the lawsuit in a statement attributed to Uber driver Jim Pyatt, an activist who has worked in favor of Prop 22.
The groups that filed the suit, which also include SEIU California State Council, took particular issue with the measure’s inclusion of a provision requiring a seven-eighths legislative supermajority to amend and even define what constitutes an amendment. That authority, they say, is vested with the courts.
The lawsuit blasts the measure’s drafters as having "impermissibly" usurped this Court’s authority to ‘say what the law is’ by determining what constitutes an ‘amendment.’"
Further, they argued, they violated the single-subject rule by "burying these cryptic amendment provisions on subjects not substantively addressed in the measure, and in language that most voters would not understand."
They said they were suing in the state Supreme Court rather than a lower court because the issues were of broad public importance and required a speedy resolution to minimize harm to gig workers.
- Staffing Company Sues for Fraudulent Comp Insuranceon January 13, 2021 at 11:09 AM
Simplified Labor Staffing Solutions, Inc. and Simplified Staffing Labor Solutions, LLC are sister entities that provide staffing services, that is, secure payroll services, insurance coverage, licenses, and corporate benefits.
Ashish Wahi owns Simplified. Michael Dougan is its chief financial officer. A major expense in their business operation is paying for workers' compensation insurance.
Simplified initiated litigation against Trinity Risk Management, LLC, affiliated entities Knight Management Group, Inc. and H.J. Knight International Insurance Agency, Inc., and other named defendants. Simplified alleged fraud-based claims related to workers’ compensation insurance it had purchased from defendants who sell workers’ compensation insurance to staffing companies.
Simplified filed a first amended complaint against defendants, and added Captive Resources, Inc. as another named defendant.
Simplified alleged defendants conspired to induce Simplified to purchase their worker’s compensation insurance through them by claiming that after one year of paying surcharges on the actual premiums for the coverage they required, Simplified would then earn "steep discounts on worker’s compensation coverage." Defendants "purported to offer underwriting of insurance risk without being a licensed insurance company, and/or offered for sale insurance coverage as a broker without being a licensed broker . . . or by means of misrepresenting the actual party they represented.
The defendants filed a cross-complaint against Simplified, alleging eight causes of action, including defamation. The cross-complainants alleged Simplified and/or Wahi were approximately $2 million dollars in arrears on Simplified’s workers’ compensation payments.
Simplified filed a special motion to strike the defamation cause of action from the cross-complaint as a strategic lawsuit against public participation under the anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court granted Simplified’s special motion to strike and the court of appeal affirmed in the unpublished case of Trinity Risk etc. v. Simplified Labor.
The purpose of the anti-SLAPP law is not to insulate defendants from any liability for claims arising from the protected rights of petition or speech. It only provides a procedure for weeding out, at an early stage, meritless claims arising from protected activity.
The wording of the statute protects the right of litigants to the utmost freedom of access to the courts without fear of being harassed subsequently by derivative tort actions. The law provides that it "shall be construed broadly."
- WCAB Significant Panel Decision Evaluates Remote Trialson January 12, 2021 at 1:50 PM
Limin Gao filed an Application for Adjudication, alleging a psyche injury while employed by Chevron from May 2, 2014 to July 2, 2015.
The matter proceeded to trial on March 10, 2020. Gao provided in-person testimony, both direct and on cross-examination, flying in from her current residence in Ontario, Canada in order to do so.
Because the trial could not be completed in one session, the trial was continued to June 9, 2020, with in-person testimony contemplated from several defense witnesses.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, WCAB District Offices stopped conducting in-person trials as of March 16, 2020. Beginning May 4, 2020, WCAB District Offices began to hear trials on the case-in-chief remotely, via phone link.
On May 7, 2020, the State of California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, issued Executive Order N-63-20 which essentially suspended the requirement that a witness testify in person under certain conditions and circumstances.
As the June 9, 20201 trial date approached, the parties made clear they had very different ideas about how the case should proceed. Applicant favored proceeding via remote testimony, while defendant objected, requesting a continuance until in-person testimony could be elicited from its three rebuttal witnesses.
The WCJ issued the Order Continuing September 1, 2020 Trial, stating that due process required continuing the trial to allow for in-person testimony from defendant’s witnesses, because applicant had previously given in-person testimony. Limin Gao Petitioned for Removal to have the WCAB rule on the legality of the WCJ order continuing the hearing. The panel reversed and remanded in the significant panel decision of Limin Gao v Chevron Corporation.
The WCAB ruled that "each case must be resolved according to its own particular circumstances, and it would therefore be inappropriate to institute a blanket rule that it is per se unreasonable to continue a case to allow for in-person testimony."
"However, in consideration of Executive Order N-63-20, the purposes of the workers’ compensation system, and current conditions, the default position should be that trials proceed remotely, in the absence of some clear reason why the facts of a specific case require a continuance. Moreover, as the party seeking the continuance, the burden should be on defendant in this case to demonstrate why a continuance is required."
- April QME Examination Now In-home by Computeron January 12, 2021 at 1:49 PM
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is now accepting applications for the Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) examination for April 17, 2021.
DWC will offer in-home computer-based testing (CBT) for the April 2021 QME examination using Proctor U.
Candidates who are interested in taking the CBT exam and have the minimum system requirements should indicate so on the application. CPS HR Consulting, the vendor managing the QME Exam, will notify interested candidates of the registration and scheduling process.
DWC will continue to offer an in-person examination in Northern and Southern California on April 17, 2021 following the guidelines and recommendations by the CDC and California Department of Public Health. The test sites will be announced on the Registration Notices.
Application and Registration packet for the QME exam may be downloaded from the DWC website.
Applicants may also contact the Medical Unit at 510-286-3700 to request an application via U.S. mail, email or fax. The deadline for filing the exam applications is March 4, 2021. No applications will be accepted after this postmarked date.
For more information, contact the Medical Unit at 510-286-3700 or by email at QMETest@dir.ca.gov..
- California COVID Vaccine Distribution Faces Logistical Issueson January 11, 2021 at 10:09 AM
Distribution of the COVID vaccines, which in California is done in several phases and prioritizes first doses for health care workers and people at risk of becoming severely ill from the virus, has lagged other jurisdictions by a considerable margin.
Nationwide, about 6.7 million Americans have received a vaccine dose according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has projected that close to 90 million people will be vaccinated by March, still under one third of Americans and far less than the 70% officials say is needed to reach herd immunity.
In California, vaccine rollout has been beset by a number of issues that bring into focus challenges that come with such a gargantuan effort.California has received just over 2 million vaccine doses but only administered about 652,000 of them as of Jan. 8.
Vaccine doses are also lower than anticipated, with officials estimating they won’t have enough doses to immunize "most" residents of its 58 counties until the summer.
Lags are also tied to ultra-low temperature storage requirements for the Pfizer vaccine, a shortage of vaccination sites and staff to administer doses and a delay in setting up systems to track who is immunized and where they live.
The Golden State has the nation’s highest total of people infected with Covid-19, with more than 2.5 million cases. As of Jan. 7, health departments statewide have reported 73,862 positive cases among health care workers and 276 deaths.
California recently told local health departments and providers to expand vaccine eligibility by offering doses to community health and testing site workers, public health field staff and dental clinic and pharmacy personnel.
More than 586,000 health care workers in California have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to state data.
The new guidance also says once demand has subsided from the first priority group, doses should be allocated to people age 75 and older, childcare workers, staff in emergency response and food service and educators.
Los Angeles County, where about 1 in 5 people being tested for Covid-19 are currently testing positive, is the largest from a cluster of Southern California counties that has received about 256,000 doses from the state, the largest quantity of any region. The area includes Orange, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Still, there aren’t enough vaccine doses currently available to immunize even half of the county population by spring, Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer at LA County’s Department of Public Health, said Friday.
The county said in a statement Friday it opened 19 vaccination sites this week and will open 75 more by next week.
- Martin Brady Appointed CHSWC Chair for 2021on January 11, 2021 at 10:09 AM
The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (CHSWC) announce the unanimous election of Commissioner Martin Brady as the Chair of the Commission for 2021.
The election was held at the December 3, 2020 public CHSWC meeting held online due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Martin Brady is Executive Director at Schools Insurance Authority, where he has worked since 1988.
He is a member of the California Joint Powers Authority, California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation, Public Agency Risk Managers Association, Public School Risk Institute, Association of Governmental Risk Pools and the Public Risk Management Association.
Mr. Brady has been a member of the Commission since 2012.
CHSWC, created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993, is charged with examining the health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation.
CHSWC was established to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system and of the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases and to examine those programs in other states.
Information about CHSWC and its meetings is available online. Information may also be obtained by writing to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, 1515 Clay Street, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612; by calling (510) 622-3959; by faxing a request to (510) 286-0499; or by emailing chswc@dir.ca.gov.
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, CHSWC public meetings will be held online until further notice.
- Public Hearing Set for Adoption of COVID-19 Treatment Guidelineon January 15, 2021 at 10:41 AM
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has issued a notice of conference call public hearing for a proposed evidence-based update to the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule (MTUS), which can be found at California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 9792.24.7.
The conference call public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 18, at 10 a.m. and members of the public may attend by calling 866-390-1828 and using access code 5497535#. Members of the public may review and comment on the proposed updates. Written comments must be submitted no later than February 18. Please see the proposed regulation page for direction for submitting written comments.
The proposed evidence-based update to the MTUS incorporate by reference the latest published guideline from American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) for the following:
-- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guideline (ACOEM December 14, 2020)
The 99 page guideline contains an analysis of the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatment using the following:
-- Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine.
-- Azithromycin.
-- Favipiravir.
-- lopinavir-ritonavir.
-- Remdesivir.
-- low-Molecular-Weight Heparin.
-- IL-6 Receptor Antagonists (Tocilizumab, Sarilumab, and Siltuximab).
-- Baricitinib.
-- Casirivimab plus lmdevimab.
-- Bamlanivimab.
-- Convalescent COVID-19 Antibodies.
-- Glucocorticosteroids.
-- Interferon Beta-lb.
-- Ribavirin.
-- Zinc.
-- Vitamin D.
The proposed evidence-based update to the MTUS regulations are exempt from Labor Code sections 5307.3 and 5307.4 and the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. However, DWC is required under Labor Code section 5307.27 to have a 30-day public comment period, hold a public hearing, respond to all the comments received during the public comment period and publish the order adopting the update online. - Man Arrested for $3.5M N95 Mask Fraud with Bay Area victimson January 15, 2021 at 10:41 AM
Federal prosecutors for the Northern District of California filed an indictment charging defendant Rodney L. Stevenson II with wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering for his operation of an e-commerce site that claimed to have N95 masks for sale during the current COVID-19 epidemic.
Stevenson operated EM General, a company created in September 2019, which purported to sell N95 masks with N99 filters. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, EM General and its website, controlled by Stevenson, advertised that it had N95 masks "in stock" and available for shipping.
EM General sold many of these masks for as much as $24.95 each. Also according to the indictment, to bolster the legitimacy of EM General, Stevenson created a professional-looking website that included the names, backstories, and stock photographs of a group of fake EM General executives.
It also falsely described how long the company had been in business, its sales volume, and its reputation. Stevenson also used fictitious names in emails to customers.
The indictment alleges that, as the pandemic worsened and demand for N95 masks increased dramatically, EM General’s sales skyrocketed. EM General’s total sales from approximately on or about February 11, 2020, to approximately on or about March 8, 2020, were approximately $3,500,000 involving over 25,000 customers, the vast majority of which were sales of N95 masks that were never delivered to customers. This amount included over $900,000 in sales on February 28, 2020, alone.
Bay Area residents thought they were buying much needed N95 masks from EM General, but according to the criminal complaint Stevenson had no intention of delivering masks. "What's described in the complaint is a consumer nightmare of fake web pages and false promises," said US Attorney for the Northern District of California, David Anderson.
Stevenson and EM General delivered almost none of the masks. Instead, when customers complained and asked for refunds, Stevenson, at times communicating with Gmail accounts he created under the names of fake identities, generally refused to refund customers and instead offered a series of lies to fraudulently prolong his scheme while he continued selling masks.
These lies included that EM General could not offer refunds because it had already paid for the customer’s order from a manufacturer, that products would ship soon, and that customers would receive tracking orders soon. For a small number of customers, Stevenson eventually fraudulently substituted masks that did not meet the standards set by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health for N95 or N99 masks, meaning that they did not filter out 95 or 99 percent of particulate matter from the air.
Stevenson is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 1343; one count of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341; five count of laundering of monetary instruments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i); and one count of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957. - CWCI Report Shows COVID Comp Claims Tripled Prior Monthson January 14, 2021 at 12:04 PM
A California Workers’ Compensation Institute analysis of claims reported to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation as of January 11 shows that the number of COVID-19 claims in the California workers’ compensation system more than tripled between October and November, then jumped another 64.2% to a record 23,483 claims in December. A new projection shows that the December total could climb to 37,573 cases once claims that are yet to be filed or still under investigation are added to the tally.
The latest figures show that after falling to a 6-month low in September, monthly COVID-19 claim counts began trending up in October as the fall wave of coronavirus cases hit the state.
Although not all November and December claims have been reported, the initial data from those months shows that as of the January 11, the DWC had recorded 14,298 COVID-19 claims with November injury dates, and a record 23,483 COVID-19 claims from December.
That year-end surge pushed the number of COVID-19 claims reported to the DWC for accident year (AY) 2020 to 93,470, which is 15.7% of all 2020 claims reported to the state, though with the recent spike, that proportion rose to 28.7% of all work injury claims reported for November and 47.4% of all claims reported for December.
The AY 2020 COVID-19 claim count includes 464 death claims -- up 21.7% from the 381 death claims reported as of December 28 -- which means COVID-19 death claims accounted for nearly half (48.0%) of the 966 work-related death claims recorded by the state for AY 2020.
Additional year-end claims continue to be filed, and CWCI’s projected COVID-19 claim count based on historical claim development that accounts for delays in COVID-19 claim reporting estimates that ultimately there will be 16,872 claims from November, and 37,573 claims from December, far surpassing the previous monthly record of 15,537 COVID-19 claims projected for July.
With hundreds of thousands of California jobs lost during the pandemic, and many workers in the state continuing to work remotely, DWC has recorded only 594,840 work injury claims for AY 2020, down 13.5% from 667,942 claims for AY 2019, despite the addition of the 93,470 COVID-19 claims.
However, the year-over-year decline in claim volume is only 6.5% if CWCI’s updated projection of the ultimate claim count for AY 2020 is used.
Other recent results show that health care workers’ share of the COVID-19 claims has declined from 44.7% in the first quarter of 2020 to 28.8% in the fourth quarter; males and younger workers continue to account for a growing share of the COVID-19 claims; and COVID-19 claim denial rates hit a 6-month high of 36.9% in October, though the denial data on claims from the last two months of 2020 is too green to be reliable.
Denial rates vary significantly by industry, with October claim denial rates ranging from 12.8% for utility workers to 66.8% for transportation workers. Many COVID-19 claims are denied because the claimants do not test positive for the virus.
The latest results on California workers’ comp COVID-19 claims are from the January 11 update to CWCI’s COVID-19/Non-COVID-19 Interactive Claim App, which integrates data from CWCI, DWC, and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics to provide information on California work injury claims from comparable periods of 2019 and 2020. The app is updated biweekly and is available to the public here. - Camarillo Insurance Brokers Face $687K Premium Fraud Chargeson January 14, 2021 at 12:04 PM
Licensed insurance agents Robert Farmer, 65, of Camarillo, and Marion Urcan, 67, of Agoura Hills, were arraigned in Los Angeles County Superior Court on multiple counts of grand theft after allegedly accepting over $687,000 in insurance premium payments from business owners and misappropriating the money for their personal use.
Farmer and Urcan, doing business as Centerpointe Insurance Services Limited in Camarillo, accepted insurance premium payments from two towing companies in the Los Angeles area.
On June 20, 2019, the California Department of Insurance received a complaint from the owner of one of the towing companies that alleged Centerpointe Insurance Services Limited accepted two checks totaling $391,000 for the company’s commercial auto insurance policy, but Farmer and Urcan did not forward these premium payments to the insurance company.
On December 20, 2019, the Department received a complaint from the other towing company that alleged Centerpointe embezzled a $50,000 down payment made toward the renewal of the towing company’s commercial auto insurance policy.
An investigation by the Department of Insurance revealed Farmer and Urcan accepted over $687,000 in total from the two towing companies but never sent the payments to an insurance company to secure liability insurance for either business owner, leaving them vulnerable to catastrophic loss.
The Department of Insurance is taking the appropriate administrative action against the licensees. Anyone who has been victimized or knows someone who has been victimized by either Farmer or Urcan, please call 661-253-7500.
They are scheduled to return to court on March 5, 2021. This case is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. - Union Asks Supreme Court to Invalidate Prop 22 Gig Measureon January 13, 2021 at 11:10 AM
A major labor union and several ride-hailing drivers are suing to overturn a newly passed ballot measure classifying gig workers as independent contractors in California.
The Washington Post reports that the groups filed suit Tuesday in California’s Supreme Court, alleging Proposition 22 violates the state constitution and limits the power of state legislators to implement certain worker protections they are authorized to grant.
The suit, filed by Service Employees International Union and a group of ride-hailing drivers, asks the state Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 22, which cemented gig driver’s status as independent contractors after more than 58 percent of voters supported it in November.
They argue the measure limits state legislators’ ability to implement a system of workers' compensation in defiance of their constitutional authority to do so. It also argues that the proposition unconstitutionally defines what comprises an amendment to the measure, as well as violating a rule limiting ballot measures to a single subject to prevent voter confusion.
The Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition, which represents gig companies such as Uber, Lyft and Doordash, criticized the lawsuit in a statement attributed to Uber driver Jim Pyatt, an activist who has worked in favor of Prop 22.
The groups that filed the suit, which also include SEIU California State Council, took particular issue with the measure’s inclusion of a provision requiring a seven-eighths legislative supermajority to amend and even define what constitutes an amendment. That authority, they say, is vested with the courts.
The lawsuit blasts the measure’s drafters as having "impermissibly" usurped this Court’s authority to ‘say what the law is’ by determining what constitutes an ‘amendment.’"
Further, they argued, they violated the single-subject rule by "burying these cryptic amendment provisions on subjects not substantively addressed in the measure, and in language that most voters would not understand."
They said they were suing in the state Supreme Court rather than a lower court because the issues were of broad public importance and required a speedy resolution to minimize harm to gig workers. - Staffing Company Sues for Fraudulent Comp Insuranceon January 13, 2021 at 11:09 AM
Simplified Labor Staffing Solutions, Inc. and Simplified Staffing Labor Solutions, LLC are sister entities that provide staffing services, that is, secure payroll services, insurance coverage, licenses, and corporate benefits.
Ashish Wahi owns Simplified. Michael Dougan is its chief financial officer. A major expense in their business operation is paying for workers' compensation insurance.
Simplified initiated litigation against Trinity Risk Management, LLC, affiliated entities Knight Management Group, Inc. and H.J. Knight International Insurance Agency, Inc., and other named defendants. Simplified alleged fraud-based claims related to workers’ compensation insurance it had purchased from defendants who sell workers’ compensation insurance to staffing companies.
Simplified filed a first amended complaint against defendants, and added Captive Resources, Inc. as another named defendant.
Simplified alleged defendants conspired to induce Simplified to purchase their worker’s compensation insurance through them by claiming that after one year of paying surcharges on the actual premiums for the coverage they required, Simplified would then earn "steep discounts on worker’s compensation coverage." Defendants "purported to offer underwriting of insurance risk without being a licensed insurance company, and/or offered for sale insurance coverage as a broker without being a licensed broker . . . or by means of misrepresenting the actual party they represented.
The defendants filed a cross-complaint against Simplified, alleging eight causes of action, including defamation. The cross-complainants alleged Simplified and/or Wahi were approximately $2 million dollars in arrears on Simplified’s workers’ compensation payments.
Simplified filed a special motion to strike the defamation cause of action from the cross-complaint as a strategic lawsuit against public participation under the anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court granted Simplified’s special motion to strike and the court of appeal affirmed in the unpublished case of Trinity Risk etc. v. Simplified Labor.
The purpose of the anti-SLAPP law is not to insulate defendants from any liability for claims arising from the protected rights of petition or speech. It only provides a procedure for weeding out, at an early stage, meritless claims arising from protected activity.
The wording of the statute protects the right of litigants to the utmost freedom of access to the courts without fear of being harassed subsequently by derivative tort actions. The law provides that it "shall be construed broadly." - WCAB Significant Panel Decision Evaluates Remote Trialson January 12, 2021 at 1:50 PM
Limin Gao filed an Application for Adjudication, alleging a psyche injury while employed by Chevron from May 2, 2014 to July 2, 2015.
The matter proceeded to trial on March 10, 2020. Gao provided in-person testimony, both direct and on cross-examination, flying in from her current residence in Ontario, Canada in order to do so.
Because the trial could not be completed in one session, the trial was continued to June 9, 2020, with in-person testimony contemplated from several defense witnesses.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, WCAB District Offices stopped conducting in-person trials as of March 16, 2020. Beginning May 4, 2020, WCAB District Offices began to hear trials on the case-in-chief remotely, via phone link.
On May 7, 2020, the State of California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, issued Executive Order N-63-20 which essentially suspended the requirement that a witness testify in person under certain conditions and circumstances.
As the June 9, 20201 trial date approached, the parties made clear they had very different ideas about how the case should proceed. Applicant favored proceeding via remote testimony, while defendant objected, requesting a continuance until in-person testimony could be elicited from its three rebuttal witnesses.
The WCJ issued the Order Continuing September 1, 2020 Trial, stating that due process required continuing the trial to allow for in-person testimony from defendant’s witnesses, because applicant had previously given in-person testimony. Limin Gao Petitioned for Removal to have the WCAB rule on the legality of the WCJ order continuing the hearing. The panel reversed and remanded in the significant panel decision of Limin Gao v Chevron Corporation.
The WCAB ruled that "each case must be resolved according to its own particular circumstances, and it would therefore be inappropriate to institute a blanket rule that it is per se unreasonable to continue a case to allow for in-person testimony."
"However, in consideration of Executive Order N-63-20, the purposes of the workers’ compensation system, and current conditions, the default position should be that trials proceed remotely, in the absence of some clear reason why the facts of a specific case require a continuance. Moreover, as the party seeking the continuance, the burden should be on defendant in this case to demonstrate why a continuance is required." - April QME Examination Now In-home by Computeron January 12, 2021 at 1:49 PM
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is now accepting applications for the Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) examination for April 17, 2021.
DWC will offer in-home computer-based testing (CBT) for the April 2021 QME examination using Proctor U.
Candidates who are interested in taking the CBT exam and have the minimum system requirements should indicate so on the application. CPS HR Consulting, the vendor managing the QME Exam, will notify interested candidates of the registration and scheduling process.
DWC will continue to offer an in-person examination in Northern and Southern California on April 17, 2021 following the guidelines and recommendations by the CDC and California Department of Public Health. The test sites will be announced on the Registration Notices.
Application and Registration packet for the QME exam may be downloaded from the DWC website.
Applicants may also contact the Medical Unit at 510-286-3700 to request an application via U.S. mail, email or fax. The deadline for filing the exam applications is March 4, 2021. No applications will be accepted after this postmarked date.
For more information, contact the Medical Unit at 510-286-3700 or by email at QMETest@dir.ca.gov.. - California COVID Vaccine Distribution Faces Logistical Issueson January 11, 2021 at 10:09 AM
Distribution of the COVID vaccines, which in California is done in several phases and prioritizes first doses for health care workers and people at risk of becoming severely ill from the virus, has lagged other jurisdictions by a considerable margin.
Nationwide, about 6.7 million Americans have received a vaccine dose according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has projected that close to 90 million people will be vaccinated by March, still under one third of Americans and far less than the 70% officials say is needed to reach herd immunity.
In California, vaccine rollout has been beset by a number of issues that bring into focus challenges that come with such a gargantuan effort.California has received just over 2 million vaccine doses but only administered about 652,000 of them as of Jan. 8.
Vaccine doses are also lower than anticipated, with officials estimating they won’t have enough doses to immunize "most" residents of its 58 counties until the summer.
Lags are also tied to ultra-low temperature storage requirements for the Pfizer vaccine, a shortage of vaccination sites and staff to administer doses and a delay in setting up systems to track who is immunized and where they live.
The Golden State has the nation’s highest total of people infected with Covid-19, with more than 2.5 million cases. As of Jan. 7, health departments statewide have reported 73,862 positive cases among health care workers and 276 deaths.
California recently told local health departments and providers to expand vaccine eligibility by offering doses to community health and testing site workers, public health field staff and dental clinic and pharmacy personnel.
More than 586,000 health care workers in California have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to state data.
The new guidance also says once demand has subsided from the first priority group, doses should be allocated to people age 75 and older, childcare workers, staff in emergency response and food service and educators.
Los Angeles County, where about 1 in 5 people being tested for Covid-19 are currently testing positive, is the largest from a cluster of Southern California counties that has received about 256,000 doses from the state, the largest quantity of any region. The area includes Orange, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Still, there aren’t enough vaccine doses currently available to immunize even half of the county population by spring, Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer at LA County’s Department of Public Health, said Friday.
The county said in a statement Friday it opened 19 vaccination sites this week and will open 75 more by next week. - Martin Brady Appointed CHSWC Chair for 2021on January 11, 2021 at 10:09 AM
The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (CHSWC) announce the unanimous election of Commissioner Martin Brady as the Chair of the Commission for 2021.
The election was held at the December 3, 2020 public CHSWC meeting held online due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Martin Brady is Executive Director at Schools Insurance Authority, where he has worked since 1988.
He is a member of the California Joint Powers Authority, California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation, Public Agency Risk Managers Association, Public School Risk Institute, Association of Governmental Risk Pools and the Public Risk Management Association.
Mr. Brady has been a member of the Commission since 2012.
CHSWC, created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993, is charged with examining the health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation.
CHSWC was established to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system and of the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases and to examine those programs in other states.
Information about CHSWC and its meetings is available online. Information may also be obtained by writing to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, 1515 Clay Street, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612; by calling (510) 622-3959; by faxing a request to (510) 286-0499; or by emailing chswc@dir.ca.gov.
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, CHSWC public meetings will be held online until further notice.