CA Gov. Signs WC Penalty Assessment Bill

Sacramento, CA (CompNewsNetwork) - Governor Schwarzenegger has signed the following bill:

SB 313 by Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) - Workers’ compensation: penalty assessments.

The bill would increase the penalty assessment to $1,500 per employee employed during the period the employer was uninsured. Because the money from the increased penalty assessment is deposited into the continuously appropriated Uninsured Employers Fund, this bill would make an appropriation.

The bill would also clarify that the director is required to issue and serve either of the above-mentioned penalty assessments.

This bill would also provide that if the employer is uninsured at the time the above penalty is being determined, the amount an employer would have paid in workers' compensation premiums shall be the product of the employer's payroll for all periods of time the employer was uninsured within the 3-year period immediately prior to the date the above penalty assessment is issued multiplied by a rate determined in accordance with regulations that may be adopted by the director or, if none have been adopted, the manual rate or rates of the State Compensation Insurance Fund for the employer's governing classification, as determined by the director, pursuant to the standard classification system approved by the Insurance Commissioner. This bill would provide that, unless the amount of the employer's payroll for all periods during which the employer was uninsured within the 3-year period is otherwise proven by a preponderance of evidence, the employer's payroll for each week the employer was uninsured shall be presumed to be the state average weekly wage, as defined, multiplied by the number of persons employed by the employer at the time the penalty assessment is issued.