New Workers’ Compensation Laws for 2012
By
Wayde York The
Happy New Year from the State of California. In
maintaining the tradition of keeping everyone on an
equal learning curve, the governor signed 22 new
employment laws in 2011. These laws address such
issues as credit reporting, damages, contractors,
wages, contracts, safety, and workers’ compensation.
Here is a summary of the five new laws specific to
workers’ compensation:
AB585 - Workers’
compensation: cancer presumption
Under existing
law, there are presumptions that cancers arising in
certain active duty fire and police personnel are
presumed to have been work related. This bill extends
this presumption to active firefighters of a
department serving NASA installations who adhere to
specified training standards.
AB378 - Workers’
compensation: pharmacy products.
Existing law
provides that it is unlawful for a physician to refer
a person for specified medical goods or services,
whether for treatment or medical-legal purposes, if
the physician or his or her immediate family has a
financial interest with the person or in the entity
that receives the referral. A violation of this
provision is a misdemeanor.
This bill adds
pharmacy goods, as defined, to the list of medical
goods or services for which it is unlawful for a
physician to refer a person except in prescribed
circumstances. This is considered a new crime.
SB457 - Workers’ compensation: liens.
This bill
would require the board to determine, on the basis of
liens filed, reimbursement for benefits paid or
services provided by a self-insured employee welfare
benefit plan notwithstanding the official medical fee
schedule when an award is made for reimbursement for
self-procured medical costs for the effects of an
injury or illness arising out of and in the course of
employment.
AB1168 - Workers’ compensation:
vocational expert fee schedule.
This bill requires,
on or before January 1, 2013, the administrative
director to adopt, after public hearings, a fee
schedule that establishes reasonable hourly fees paid
for services provided by vocational experts. This bill
prohibits a vocational expert from being paid, and
prohibits the appeals board from allowing, vocational
expert fees in excess of those that are reasonable,
actual, and necessary.
SB826 - Workers’
compensation: data reporting requirement;
administrative penalties.
This bill requires the
administrative director to assess an administrative
penalty against a claims administrator for a violation
of data reporting requirements. This bill requires the
administrative director to promulgate a schedule of
penalties providing for an assessment of no more than
$5,000 against a claims administrator in any single
year, calculated by violation type and excluding
threshold rates of violations, as prescribed. Any
penalty is to be deposited in the Workers'
Compensation Administration Revolving Fund.
A
complete list of the new Employment Laws for 2012 can
be found at
http://www.dir.ca.gov/od_pub/NewLaws2012.pdf.
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