Oakland, CA – The California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) has received state approval of an update to its “Facts About Workers’ Compensation” new hire notice which claims organizations and employers use to meet the statutory requirements to provide new employees with basic information about workers’ compensation (Labor Code §3551). 

CWCI revised its new hire notice after Gov. Newsom signed AB 1870 last year. That bill amended Labor Code §3550 to require the addition of information on an employee’s right to consult an attorney to the workers’ compensation posting notice (DWC 7 form) that employers must display at their worksites. The change to the posting notice led to a similar revision to CWCI’s new hire notice because under state law (Labor Code §3551) new employees must receive written notice of the information in Labor Code §3550.  

Workers’ compensation notice requirements [Labor Code §3550(f) and §3551(c)] also specify that insurers shall provide the posting notices and new hire notices to their policyholders with advice concerning the statutory notice requirements and penalties for failure to provide the notices to employees. These can include audit penalties, loss of employer medical control, thousands of dollars in civil penalties for each violation of the posting requirement, and a tolling of the statute of limitations for filing a claim.

Following enactment of AB 1870, the state Division of Workers’ Compensation revised the DWC 7 posting notice and made it available online click here. State regulations [CCR 9883(a)] allow private enterprises to prepare and publish their own versions of the Written Notice to New Employees if it is approved by the Division, so CWCI revised and submitted an updated copy of its Facts About Workers’ Compensation for review and approval. The state approved the revised version last month, after which the Institute copyrighted its notice, translated it into Spanish, typeset the revised versions, and had them printed.

The updated Facts About Workers’ Compensation Notice to New Employees in English and Spanish is now in stock and available for purchase along with the 5-part DWC-1 Claim Form and Notice of Potential Eligibility, which did not need to be updated, and CWCI’s Facts For Injured Workers pamphlet, which is not mandatory, but is often used early in the life of a claim to remind injured workers of their rights and obligations. All of these publications are available in sets of 100 through the Institute’s online store www.cwci.org/store.html. CWCI members are eligible for a 15 percent discount on these products if the subtotal on their order is $1,000 or more. For questions about ordering, call CWCI at (510) 251-9470.