Current Newsletters
AWARENESS OF PTSD IMPACT ON YOUR FAMILY, CAREER AND PRIVACY RIGHTS IS ESSENTIAL
Law1199.com Newsletter 2019 Issue #12 sets forth information regarding Senate Bill 542, which is designed to provide protection to safety workers and their families regarding post-traumatic stress disorders which develop or manifest as a result of the extraordinarily stressful situations which safety officers are exposed to on a continuing basis in the course of their work. Even with the passage of SB 542, I’ve seen...
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S FINDINGS
California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle, C.P.A., issued a report dated 11/19/19 to the Governor of California, President Pro Tem of the Senate, and the Speaker of the Assembly. In this report, she reported: “As directed by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, my office conducted an audit of the Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) and its oversight and regulation of qualified medical...
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STATES LEGISLATURE MAY NEED TO EXAMINE UR SAFEGUARDS FOR SUFFICIENT INCENTIVES TO ENSURE COMPETENT AND CAREFUL UR REVIEW
The California Supreme Court, on August 23, 2018, issued its opinion affirming a Court of Appeal’s judgment dealing with the concept of Utilization Review and Independent Medical Review and the limitations placed on employee remedies for work-related injuries as set forth specifically in the Labor Code. Labor Code §3600 sets forth that the remedy for recovery under the Work Comp system differs substantially from tort remedies which...
CARVE-OUT AND FALL-OUT
The Workers’ Compensation laws are supposed to ensure fair and just treatment for California workers who incur injuries in the course of their employment, providing medical care to cure and relieve the effects of the injuries for the full life span of the injured worker. In 1993, Labor Code § 3201.5 created the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) system (aka, CARVE-OUT, “CO”), to either supplement or replace rules in the Workers’...
COPD, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND OTHER CONDITIONS MAY HAVE CONNECTIVITY TO YOUR WORK
Many diseases or other medical problems involve various risk factors in their manifestation or development. As scientific knowledge and the corresponding literature expand for particular conditions, a greater awareness occurs. However, treating doctors often focus upon a patient’s current symptomatology without an awareness of new studies which attribute other factors as being contributory to the development of the disease....
The “Firefighter Rule”
Under civil remedy jurisdiction, the general population has a duty to avoid causing injuries to other citizens. This obligation is established relative to driving safely to prevent vehicular accidents, providing a safe place for customers to shop and employees to work, protecting individual personal property, and endless other situations which potentially could result in injuries to the public. Within the safety community, the general...
THE INCREASE IN HOMELESSNESS AND THE CORRESPONDING RISE IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES CONSTITUTE A MAJOR PROBLEM; SAFETY WORKERS MUST HAVE SPECIAL PROTECTION
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in his 2/9/19 State of the State address, commented: “There’s another urgent moral issue we must confront: the homelessness epidemic. So many of California’s homeless — whether they're families, veterans, victims of rent spikes, or survivors fleeing domestic violence — are invisible and left behind by our society. Too many on the streets are suffering from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or paranoia. Many...
OVERVIEW AND PREPARATION
The California Workers’ Compensation laws were enacted by the legislative body to ensure fair and just treatment of California workers who incur injuries in the course of their employment, and provide them with the medical care they need to cure and relieve the effects of their work injuries through their entire lifespan. The specific language guarantee-ing workers of this right is set forth in the California Constitution,...
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LABOR CODE
The Workers’ Compensation system in California was specifically created to compensate employees for injuries sustained in the course of their employment. The primary goal of this compensation is for injured workers to be cured or relieved from the effects of their work-related injuries. Existing law establishes that the Workers’ Compensation system is administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation. The...
MEDICAL CARE CAN EXPAND
The worker that has a job related injury can be entitled to receive medical care to cure or relieve the effects of the injury. Typically, the medical care is ascribed to a particular system and/or body part that were injured in the job-related event, and the medical care can be expanded. There can also be supplemental medical care that is connected to a particular body part and/or systems that were not specifically injured in the...
