Ok dear readers, welcome to Friday!
We’re going strong through the first month of 2022, but I just have to ask… have you updated all your pay rates for the new year?
If not, here are few things to keep in mind:
SAWW increase for 2022 as compared to 2021 is 13.5213%, which means that if you have a file with a life pension that needs a COLA adjustment, make sure you’ve updated your pay rate!
By the same token, TTD rates have gone up as well, with the minimum going from $203.44 to $230.95 and the maximum going from $1,356.31 to $1,539.71. If you are paying maximum TD more than two years after the DOI, make sure to update the rate as well.
The mileage reimbursement rate has also increased, from 56 cents per mile to 58.5 cents per mile.
Minimum wage has also increased, from $15.00 per hour for employers with more than 25 employees, and $14.00 for employer with 25 or fewer employees. Accordingly, if you are paying TD based on minimum wage and the date of injury was more than two years ago, you may want to adjuster your TD rate accordingly.
SB331 has taken effect, meaning that any clauses restricting disclosure of various bad acts by employers, specifically harassment, discrimination, or retaliation are rendered unenforceable going forward. Does your settlement paperwork come with a resignation letter that limits what applicant can say about his or her employer? Time to review that paperwork for statutory compliance…
AB286 was signed into law on October 5, 2021, and regulates various aspects of the food delivery industry, including prohibiting the food delivery platform from keeping any portion of the tips given to the delivery workers or food facility. That means that it might be time to recalculate average weekly wages, since tips previously kept by your favorite food delivery app may now have to be paid to the applicant instead.
And, of course, there are those new WCAB regulations mentioned earlier on this must humble of blogs.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself – what about COVID? Well, dear readers, as you know, your humble blogger has a severe Golden Retriever complex – nothing makes me happier than making people happy. But even I can’t keep up with the changing rules on COVID19. Remember when we were supposed to quarantine for 14 days? Well the CDC now wants the infected but symptom-free to return to work after 5 days.
And what about SB1159 and all those COVID19 presumptions? Well those will stay in effect until the end of 2022 unless some legislative action is taken, so there’s nothing new there.
Did I miss any, dear readers? If so, please let me know. Best submission gets a free subscription to the blog.
Have a great weekend!