Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) Acting Administrative Director Destie Overpeck has appointed Presiding Workers’ Compensation Administrative Law Judge Paige Levy and the Honorable Joyce Cram to serve as members of the Workers’ Compensation Ethics Advisory Committee.

Judge Levy will fill the position designated to be held by a presiding judge and Judge Cram will fill the position of a member of the public outside the workers’ compensation community. Judge Levy is currently the Presiding Workers’ Compensation Administrative Law Judge at the Marina Del Rey District Office and the appointment is effective March 1, 2014. Judge Cram is a retired judge of the Superior Court of Contra Costa County. Her appointment is effective January 1, 2014.

The ethics advisory committee, established in 1995 by Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 9722, reviews all ethics complaints from the public against workers’ compensation administrative law judges.

After its review of complaints, the committee makes recommendations to the administrative director. The committee reviews all complaints anonymously and does not learn the names of either the complainant or the judge complained against. The committee meets quarterly and members serve without compensation.

The regulation provides that the committee mix include: a member of the public representing organized labor; a member of the public representing insurers; a member of the public representing self-insured employers; an attorney who formerly practiced before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and who usually represented insurers or employers; an attorney who formerly practiced before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and who usually represented applicants; a presiding judge; a workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCALJ) or retired WCALJ; and two members of the public outside the workers’ compensation community.

A judicial ethics complaint form and instructions can be found on the DWC forms page.