No Changes to DWC-1, Pamphlet, Posting Notices or Benefit Notice Regs Until At Least April 2014
CWCI has confirmed with the DWC that it does not plan to complete revisions to the regs governing workers’ comp benefit notices prior to the end of this year. Thus there will be no changes to the new hire pamphlets (CCR §9880); the workers’ comp posting notice (CCR §§9881 – 9881.1); DWC-1 claim form and Notice of Potential Eligibility (CCR §10139); or the benefit notice letters (CCR §§9810-9815) until at least April 2014 — and perhaps later depending on how the regulatory process unfolds.
Last April, the DWC posted proposed changes to the benefit notice regs to an online forum for public comment. Some of the draft revisions reflected SB 863 changes, but many went beyond that and significantly altered the tone and content of various notices. The comment period ended May 3, and the proposed revisions drafted by the DWC in consultation with CHSWC were widely criticized by all sides of the community – including the applicant bar, the Chamber of Commerce, and the CWCI.
While DWC has made significant headway on proposed regs in several key areas since then, there have been no additional forums or drafts of the benefit notice regs released since April. Juliann Sum, special counsel to the DIR Director had been overseeing the project, working along with Christine King, the Northern California Audit Unit manager, but Ms. King has since retired and last month Ms. Sum was named acting chief of Cal-OSHA. Given these personnel changes, DWC’s extensive regulatory agenda, and the time required to redraft and obtain approval for any changes to the benefit notice regs, it will be months before any revisions are adopted. Acting AD Destie Overpeck confirmed this to the CWCI last week, noting that the state is still targeting April 1 for any changes to the notices, though that could shift. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, unless regs are adopted on an emergency basis, they must be approved by OAL and filed with the Secretary of State before February 29 to take effect by April 1, so even the April 1 target date may be optimistic.
CCR 9883 allows insurers, employers or private enterprises to develop their own versions of the workers’ comp posting notice and new hire pamphlet, and CWCI did update and obtain DWC approvals for its posting notices and new hire pamphlets at the end of 2012 to make them compliant with SB 863. Both the DWC-1 claim form/NOPE and DWC’s version of the posting notice, however, are imbedded in the regs so have yet to be updated.
Bottomline: Additional changes to these materials and to benefit notice letters may be required after the regs are finalized in 2014. CWCI will provide comments on the draft regs and notify you when new materials are required and available. In the meantime, claims operations can continue to use DWC-approved versions of posting notices and new hire pamphlets, and the DWC-1/NOPE (Rev. 6/10), so you may want to make sure you have enough inventory to last at least through Q1 2014. CWCI continues to stock these notices in our Forms/Publications Store (http://www.cwci.org/store.html) if you need to reorder.
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