Workers Compensation

California lawmakers voted to send Gov. Gavin Newsom bills expanding workers’ compensation coverage for farmworkers with heat injuries and dependents of fallen first responders. Also last week, the Senate passed an amended bill directing the Division of Workers’ Compensation to…

Heat-related workplace injuries double when temperatures rise to just 80 or 85 degrees Fahrenheit and increase more than sevenfold when temperatures exceed 90 degrees, according to a new report by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Unsurprisingly, such injuries are more…

The California Court of Appeal Wednesday affirmed a trial court’s ruling that a school volunteer killed while helping load food into vehicles during a food drive was by law considered an employee of the district and therefore the family cannot…

California lawmakers are considering a bill that would expand the definition of what qualifies as a work injury for hospital workers, adding language to existing law that would include post-traumatic stress disorder and COVID-19. S.B. 632, introduced Thursday, would apply…

The California Supreme Court said an appellate court erred when it determined that amendments to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act triggered exclusive remedy provisions under state law and prohibited an injured worker from pursuing negligence claims under general…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill requiring employers to notify workers that they can consult an attorney for advice about their rights under the state’s workers compensation law. Per A.B. 1870, employers will be required to display…

A California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows nearly half of all litigated claims in the Los Angeles Basin are cumulative trauma claims that involve physical or mental injuries from repetitive stress, motion, or exposures, rather than from a specific event…

California employers would have to post a notice that an injured worker has a right to an attorney under a bill introduced Monday. A.B. 1870, which has not been assigned to a committee, amends state law that already requires employers…

Increasingly common in California are workers compensation claims involving cumulative trauma in which causation is questionable, the claim may have been filed after the injured worker is terminated or quits, and the claimant’s doctor later adds additional diagnoses. According to…

Since 2014, the percentage of indemnity claims involving a major surgery in the first two years has declined one percentage point per year, falling from 28% of the 2014 claims to 23% of the 2019 claims, according to a study…