WCDefenseCA

Happy Monday, dear readers!

It looks like we are all, slowly but surely, returning mentally and physically from our holiday revelries.  Those fortunate souls who went on vacation are now returning refreshed and re-energized to their posts.  The intrepid souls that remained at work are ready to continue holding the line without missing a beat or being bogged down in catch-up duty.

2017 is here at last!

And here are a few things we can expect from 2017:

1. Minimum Wage: California’s minimum wage has gone up yet again – from $10.00 to $10.50 per hour.
2. Mileage Reimbursement: the IRS has reduced the mileage reimbursement rate from 54 cents per mile to 53.5.
3. TTD Minimum and Maximum: The range of TTD is now from $175.88 to $1,172.57 per week (up from $169.26 to $1,128.43)
4. Owner/Officer Comp Coverage: AB 2883 goes into effect, so owners and officers now need to provide additional documentation to be legally excluded from their policies (call your broker!)
5. Medical Fraud Liens: AB1244 goes into effect, which will hopefully give a bit more teeth to the defense community in dealing with lien claims by parties convicted of various forms of insurance fraud.

There are others, of course, but hopefully those will raise a red flag in all of our minds about new issues to address in this year.  In particular, the new filing requirements for liens warrants its own post (stay tuned, dear readers)

In any case, dear readers, your humble blogger hopes that 2017 will be a year full of joy, peace, and success for all of us.