Meliton Hernandez Martinez Jr., 23, was arraigned today at the Merced County Superior Court in California on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report, after allegedly instigating a physical altercation resulting…
A staff engineer for the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board recommended Monday that the board deny a petition seeking an emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 protections for employees, although Cal/OSHA’s chief supported its passage. The petition, filed by…
A sharp drop in 2020 workers’ compensation premiums in California is expected with the COVID-19 pandemic-related job losses, a report out today shows. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s 2020 State of the System report paints a picture…
California will implement new safeguards and has drafted a playbook to help protect the state’s frontline workers from COVID-19 and aid employers in reopening their businesses, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Friday. The state’s 33-page Employer Playbook, released…
Marlene Cavalcanti, 40, has pleaded guilty to two felony counts of insurance fraud and identity theft after falsifying documents to receive an additional $10,590 on her workers’ compensation claim. Cavalcanti, employed as an executive assistant, reportedly fell at work and…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced that workers who contract COVID-19 while on the job may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation. The governor signed an executive order that creates a time-limited rebuttable presumption for accessing workers’ comp benefits applicable…
Recreational cannabis use affects driving ability even when drivers are not intoxicated by marijuana, according to a study from a Harvard Medical School hospital. Published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, the study “Recreational Cannabis Use Impairs Driving Performance…
Medical payments in California’s workers’ compensation system continued to decline in 2018 as the medical payments per claim decreased, according to a report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California. The WCIRB released its California Workers’ Compensation Aggregate…
Since California implemented its workers’ compensation formulary last year, an increasing share of drugs prescribed to injured workers are either “Exempt” from prospective utilization review or “Not Listed” in the formulary, while “Non-Exempt” drugs that require UR before they can…
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday imposed a $4.3 million penalty on American Labor Alliance and CompOne USA for selling workers’ compensation and liability policies to employers of farmworkers without being properly licensed with the California Department of Insurance….