Assistance for Injured Workers When Employers Illegally Uninsured
California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) have teamed up with the Watsonville-based Workers’ Compensation Enforcement Collaborative (WCEC) to overcome hurdles faced by injured workers seeking benefits when their employers are illegally uninsured.
The DWC’s Information and Assistance (I&A) Unit in Salinas after planning with WCEC members and others this week launched a “customer service initiative” pilot project designed to help injured workers get benefits while shining a spotlight on their illegally uninsured employers.
The focus of the Salinas “customer service initiative” pilot project is to expand existing services to unrepresented injured workers who need help identifying the parties responsible for providing them with workers’ compensation benefits, and in securing benefits from the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund (UEBTF) should the responsible parties fail to provide necessary coverage.
In addition to receiving supplementary training in investigations, the I&A office in Salinas will have access to Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) coverage information and enhanced resources.
The newly acquired information and resources enable the I&A officer to identify an employer and determine whether the employer has proper insurance coverage. Once an employer is accurately identified, the I&A officer can assist workers and make it easier for them to serve court papers against illegally uninsured employers.
Besides getting benefits to the injured worker, the desired outcome is that uninsured employers will be systematically reported to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the Department of Insurance, and local district attorney’s offices for fraud investigation. (workersxzcompxzkit).
Under California law it is a crime for an employer not to have workers’ compensation insurance or permission to be self-insured. Illegally uninsured employers are subject to prosecution, imprisonment, and penalties.
DWC is collecting information during the Salinas “customer service initiative” pilot project to determine whether similar efforts at other I&A offices across the state would be effective.
Author: Robert Elliott, J.D.
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