California DWC Posts WCIS Administrative Penalty Regs For Comment

Oakland, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) - The Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) has drafted regulations providing for the assessment of administrative penalties for Workers' Compensation Information System (WCIS) reporting violations and posted them to the online forum where members of the public may review and comment on the proposal.

Since March 1, 2000, claims administrators have been required to submit to DWC, via Electronic Data Interchange, comprehensive information on occupational injuries and illness. Senate Bill 826, which was signed into law by the Gov. Brown on Oct. 7, 2011, amends Labor Code section 138.6 by authorizing DWC to assess administrative penalties, up to $5,000 per year for each claims administrator, for a failure to report claim information or the failure to report such information accurately to WCIS. 

The proposed regulations provide:

• A schedule of penalties capped at $5,000 against a claims administrator in any given year. The schedule provides for no more than $100 per violation for violations where a mandatory report is not submitted or not accepted, and no more than $50 per violation for violations involving specific errors or late filings.
• Threshold rates of violations that are excluded from the calculation of penalty assessments. 
• A requirement for DWC to publish an annual report on the compliance of claims administrators.

The assessment of administrative penalties for non-complaint WCIS reporting constitutes a major shift in the manner by which the WCIS operates.  From 2002 to the present, DWC solely relied upon voluntary compliance by claims administrators to submit complete and accurate data to WCIS, as there was no express statutory authority to directly penalize claims administrators for a failure to submit data or a failure to submit accurate data. Senate Bill 826 now provides DWC with a valuable enforcement tool to ensure the quality of the WCIS database.

The proposed regulations are sections 9705.1 through 9705.2 of the administrative director's rules in Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.

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