CA DWC Announces New Acting AD For Division Of Workers Compensation And New Chief Judge

Sacramento, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) - The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is pleased to announce that Chief Counsel Destie Overpeck will be the division’s acting administrative director. As AD, Overpeck will oversee regulatory efforts needed to implement the wide-ranging changes of Senate Bill 863, which Gov. Brown signed into law in September and will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.

“With Destie’s extensive experience in workers’ compensation I am confident in her ability to take on this role as we move forward to implement system reforms,” said DIR Director Christine Baker.

Overpeck has served as DWC’s chief counsel since 2005. In that role, she has drafted and overseen regulations implementing workers’ compensation reforms and programs, participated in stakeholder meetings and public hearings regarding proposed regulations, advised the DWC administrative director and supervised the DWC legal unit. She previously served as the acting AD in 2009. She first joined the division in 2000 as counsel.

DWC is also pleased to announce the appointment of Richard L. Newman as chief judge of the division, a position he has held in an acting capacity since August 2011. The chief judge works closely with the administrative director, regional managers and presiding judges to oversee the work of workers’ compensation judges at the division’s 24 offices. Newman previously was presiding judge in the San Francisco district office; he began working for the division as counsel to the administrative director in 1991.