The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) Acting Administrative Director George Parisotto has appointed Ellen Sims Langille to serve as a member of the Workers’ Compensation Ethics Advisory Committee. The appointment is effective June 1, 2016.
Langille is general counsel of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI). She will fill the position of a member of the public representing insurers previously held by Michael McClain of CWCI.
As civil servants, WCALJs are not subject to review by the California Commission on Judicial Performance,the agency responsible for investigating misconduct complaints directed at judges serving on the Supreme, Superior, and Appellate courts. Instead, they are subject to review by the Ethics Advisory Committee. The committee was established in 1995 by Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 9722. The committee is independent of the DWC.
The committee reviews all complaints without learning the names of complainant’s or judges, and then makes recommendations to the administrative director and the DWC court administrator. The committee meets quarterly and members serve without compensation.
The regulation provides that the committee must include: three members of the public individually representing organized labor, insurers and 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.
According to the committee’s 2015 annual public report, the EAC considered a total of 38 of the 44 new complaints it received in calendar year 2015, in addition to 6 complaints pending from 2014. Six complaints filed in 2015 are pending ongoing investigation, and six pending complaints were filed after the EAC final calendar meeting for 2015. The EAC also resolved 10 complaints pending ongoing investigation in 2014. The complaints set forth a wide variety of grievances. A large proportion of the complaints alleged legal error not involving judicial misconduct or expressed dissatisfaction with a judge’s decision.
A judicial ethics complaint form and instructions can be found on the forms page of the DWC website .