MICHAEL SULLIVAN & ASSOCIATES BLOG

PIHRA's 2023 California HR Conference was a resounding success! It was great to spend time with our valued clients, co-workers, and colleagues.

MS&A Managing Partner, Eric De Wames, and PIHRA President, Tara Fournier, presented the latest installment of their ongoing session "Building Airplanes in Flight (episode 9)" on Day 2 of the conference. Their session was a crowd favorite, offering insights into creating a healthy workplace environment while maintaining compliance with California's strict employment laws. MS&A's Happy Hour at Gladstone's was another highlight of the conference. Thank you to everyone who joined us and made it such a memorable evening! Thanks as well to those who stopped by our booth to say hello and learn more about the firm. We hope we’ll see you in the fall at PIHRA’s CELU23!

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ended the COVID-19 state of emergency in California. While it was in effect, however, the workers' compensation system was subject to numerous changes and disruptions. The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) moved toward remote hearings, and Gov. Newsom issued an executive order extending specified time limits established in the Labor Code and administrative regulations.

PIHRA's 2023 California HR Conference (CAHR) is coming up soon! Michael Sullivan & Associates is a proud sponsor of the event, which is being held at the Long Beach Convention Center from May 8th to May 10th. Be sure to stop by our booth (#120) to say hello! There will be free resource materials and goodies available for conference attendees, as well as two raffle prizes, so be sure to bring your business cards.

On March 22, 2023, the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) issued its ninth, and possibly final, en banc decision regarding COVID-19, “In Re: COVID-19 State of Emergency En Banc –– No. 9.” Because Governor Newsom terminated the state of emergency in response to COVID-19 as of Feb. 28, 2023, the WCAB announced that it was rescinding all remaining en banc decisions which had temporarily suspended specific WCAB Rules of Practice and Procedure, effective as of the date of the decision. Specifically, the WCAB announced the following decisions were rescinded:

Generally, an employer must deny a claim within 90 days to avoid a presumption that it's compensable. Labor Code 5402(b)(1) states, "If liability is not rejected within 90 days after the date the claim form is filed under Section 5401, the injury shall be presumed compensable under this division." Once the presumption attaches, it can be rebutted only by evidence that could not have been obtained with the exercise of reasonable diligence within the 90-day period. (SCIF v. WCAB (Welcher) (1995) 60 CCC 717.)

Labor Code 4616.3(c) establishes a process that allows injured employees to obtain second and third opinions from physicians within a medical provider network. It states, "If an injured employee disputes either the diagnosis or the treatment prescribed by the treating physician, the employee may seek the opinion of another physician in the medical provider network. If the injured employee disputes the diagnosis or treatment prescribed by the second physician, the employee may seek the opinion of a third physician in the medical provider network."

Per LC 4616.4(b), "If, after the third physician's opinion, the treatment or diagnostic service remains disputed, the injured employee may request an MPN independent medical review regarding the disputed treatment or diagnostic service still in dispute ... in accordance with Section 4616.3." That's referred to as an MPN IMR.

On February 3, 2023, Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Non-Emergency Standards was approved and became effective. The Non-Emergency Standards will remain in effect until February 3, 2025, and can be found at https://www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/documents/COVID-19-Prevention-Non-Emergency-apprvdtxt-oal.pdf.

The Non-Emergency Standards relax several previously mandatory requirements and have modified some important definitions.

The following are changes employers need to be aware of and implement.

The Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) revised regulations related to medical-legal evaluations effective Feb. 2, 2023. The regulations make changes to the rules for scheduling QME examinations and permanently adopt regulations allowing remote medical-legal evaluations. Specifically, the regulations make these changes to the medical-legal process: