So what happens when an injured employee returns to work and the employer can no longer accommodate his or her work restrictions?  Well, in some cases, the injured worker files a lawsuit for Americans with Disabilities Act violations.

The Union Tribune of San Diego reports that a jury awarded David Flores $520,000 of San Diego’s money after finding that the city had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in firing the city employee.   Mr. Flores, while employed as a mechanical inspector, had sustained an industrial injury in 2006, but had returned to work for the city a few months later.  In 2009, his treating physician imposed a restriction against climbing ladders.

The city couldn’t accommodate the restriction, so Mr. Flores was let go.

But then Flores came back with an ADA lawsuit, claiming that San Diego should have still accommodated him despite a medically-imposed work restriction.

Now, bear in mind, your humble blogger is an even humbler Bay Area workers’ compensation defense attorney.  As such, he knows little to nothing of litigating ADA matters.  But what he is learning again and again is that employers just can’t win in California, and this story is no exception to the rule.

Orange County is known for many things.  The trees grow tall, the sun shines bright, and giant oranges roam the streets eating smaller oranges in vicious acts of orange-on-orange violence.  Well, maybe it’s not known for that, but news in the workers’ compensation world spreads fast that Orange County is facing major problems with its workers’ compensation reserves.  The Voice of OC reports that Orange County is now at 60% reserves of predicted workers’ compensation losses over the next 5 years.

Orange County, of course, is self-insured, and the well looked like it was getting dry in early May.  However, Workers’ Comp Executive reports that the O.C., as the kids call it, is moving to boost workers’ compensation reserves up to 80% by moving $2-3 million from other departments over the next five years.

Your humble blogger offers his salute to Orange County for this approach – instead of raising taxes on other employers under the County’s domain, the County is instead dipping into its own pockets to make up the gap – like any employer or insurer would do to stay afloat.

Perhaps Governor Brown could take a lesson from this modest community of former-orange growers in dealing with the workers’ compensation deficit on the state level.

A Flash Report from the Workers’ Compensation Executive, the sister publication of the late, great Appeals Board Reporter, a personal favorite of your humble blogger and a publication deeply missed by the workers’ compensation community, tells us of Governor Brown’s proposal to reduce the budget deficit by reducing the hours of state employees.

Do you remember the furloughs?  Do you remember having a handful of days during the month when the Boards’ doors were [physically] closed to justice and their lights [literally] turned off to the truth (and everything else)?  Perhaps we can expect those days once more.

The proposal includes longer business hours and fewer business days, which doesn’t really help those of us working conventional hours of 9-5.  Even the attorneys and adjusters that actually work longer hours usually reserve the hours before 9 and after 5 to catch up on solo work – reports, paperwork, research, preparing for hearings, and even checking our favorite daily workers’ compensation defense blogs (hint, hint).

What this proposal would provide is a substantial decrease in services (20%) for a tiny decrease in cost (5%).  In other words, the Governor is proposing increasing costs to employers and insurers by 15%

In all fairness to Governor Brown, he was active in vetoing several anti-employer bills and signing several defense (a.k.a. California) friendly bills in 2011.  However, if we overlook the issue of whether the Governor can close portions of the government not funded out of the general budget to “reduce the budget deficit,” your humble blogger submits that, perhaps, the Governor and his administration is taking the wrong tack.

Instead of hobbling the Board offices with a 20% reduction in productivity (let’s be honest here, how productive will you be working 12-hour days when you used to work 8-hour days, especially in those last four hours?) the Governor should be seeking to increase services in workers’ compensation, in quantity AND quality.

With Christine Baker and Rosa Moran enjoying recent confirmation, the efforts should be to make outcomes at the WCAB consistent, predictable, and in accordance with the law.  The various Board venues should be open to provide speedy justice to employees and employers alike – and justice, mind you my dear readers, is not “fairness” or “generosity” with the employers’ capital and the insurers’ reserves.  It is, instead, the correct application of the law without any hooks or crooks.

Instead, with a reduction in services, applicants’ attorney will now be able to threaten the defense community with overworked government employees, delays in closing files, and an overwhelming flood of cases allowing injustice to regularly slip through the growing cracks.  You need a date for that MSC?  Check back in six months.

Come on, Governor, cut the fat, not the muscle, and tighten the guts, not the belt!

A new report from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute states that 2011 has seen a record high average cost of workers’ compensation cases – $66,922.  The website Workforce.com has an article on this, reporting that 2011 saw an increase in the average indemnity costs of each claim.

The short and the long of it is that workers’ compensation costs are going up, steadily and consistently.  The gains made by employers and insurers in 2005 are steadily being chipped away.  The trend, since 2005, appears to be “declining frequency” and “increasing severity.”

Perhaps more reforms are necessary, with a particular focus on lien and medical expenses, to keep these costs from growing any more.  Perhaps practicing workers’ compensation attorneys need to be included in a meaningful way in any reforms that are produced.

Your humble blogger hates to be the bringer of bad news, but it ain’t looking good, folks.