WCDefenseCA

Happy Monday, dear readers, and more to the point, happy New Year!

We made it, and here we are!  I know we all had some doubts.  But, I thought it only fair to bring to the attention of my beloved readers and my despised detractors alike that practically no one is making predictions about the future any more – no one is saying “2023 is going to be my year!” or “the year of the Humble Blogger is at last at hand!”  We’re all very cautiously moving forward with only one goal and aspiration in mind for 2023

What better way to start another wonderful year of blogging than by giving a heads up on the laws taking effect 1/1/23?

First off, a chronic favorite here at WCDefenseCA, minimum wage!  Starting 1/1/23, minimum wage goes up to $15.50 per hour for all employers, possibly more by local ordinance.  What does that mean for you?  If you’re paying TD for an employee who was earning minimum wage at the time of injury, that employee’s “earning capacity” has now increased by operation of the minimum wage law, which means you should be prepared to reassess TD rate.

Second, everyone’s favorite abomination of a law: SB1127 is now in effect for all dates of injury!  What does that mean? If you had 90 days to investigate a claim you might have 75 now depending on the nature of the injury alleged and the occupation claimed.  No one knows how this will play out as the law was so poorly drafted and reasoned out.  Furthermore, you might think yourself safe if you’re not employing peace officers or firefighters or corrections officers.  But what about COVID19 presumption cases such as outbreaks or healthcare workers?  Time to take a look carefully because if workers’ compensation were a ship, our location on the map would read “here be dragons!”

To quote Lorne Malvo in Fargo: “Because maps used to say ‘there be dragons here.’ Now they don’t.  But that don’t mean the dragons aren’t there.”  And, of course, if you’re looking at the costs of litigation SB1127 in uncharted territory with the prospect of $50,000 in penalties, a dragon to face is not an unreasonable analogy.

Other notables include AB-257, which allows the government to raise wages for food workers up to $22 per hour, and of course SB-1162, which requires employers with more than 15 employees to disclose wage ranges for a given position to prospective and current employees.

What does that mean for us, dear readers? It means that California employers are going to have an even harder time keeping the lights on.  Those of us who have not left the state are going to be very busy working to make sure the shifting of more and more of society’s burdens on employers is kept to a minimum.  Cheer up, dear readers – at least we won’t be bored!

Happy New Year!