The Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announced that it will this week lift the notation in its Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS) that indicates all liens with Labor Code section 4903.05(c) declarations filed on July 2 and July 3 were dismissed.

Under this Labor Code provision, a Senate Bill 1160 mandate to combat workers’ compensation fraud, all lien claimants who filed a lien between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016, and paid a filing fee, were required to file the “Supplemental Lien Form and 4903.05(c) Declaration” form by July 1, 2017. The declarations confirm that the liens are valid and appropriately filed.

A total of 2,794 liens with declarations filed on July 2 and 3 were administratively designated as dismissed for failure to comply with the July 1 filing deadline. Because July 1 fell on a weekend, workers’ compensation administrative law judges will adjudicate the timeliness of lien declarations filed on July 2 and July 3 on a case-by-case basis. DWC’s reversal of the dismissal notation is not a decision or order on the timeliness of the declarations, and shall not be construed as such.

Liens with declarations filed after July 3 and liens where no declaration was filed will remain dismissed by operation of law under Labor Code section 4903.05(c)(3).