Workers Comp Zone

A Partner at Boxer & Gerson LLP, Julius Young has practiced worker’s compensation law and social security disability law since 1979. He has represented thousands of individuals who have sustained life-changing injuries or illnesses while on the job. In every case, his goal is to secure the medical treatments his clients need.

July 28, 2021

CALL THEIR BLUFF

Governor Newsom’s administration appears to be pressuring California Senator Steve Bradford to trim his anti-discrimination bill, SB 788. SB 788 would prohibit discrimination in apportionment  due to factors of race, creed, national origin, gender, marital status, sex, and sexual identity or orientation. Originally the bill included factors of age and genetics, but those were dropped […]


July 7, 2021

TOP 10 DEVELOPMENTS IN CALIFORNIA WORKERS’ COMP-1ST HALF OF 2021

At midyear, it’s time to assess the top developments in California workers’ comp during the first half of 2021. Separating the signal from the noise is not always easy. But here is my assessment of the important developments and trends, in the California system, in no particular order: 1. WCAB Commissioner Juan Pedro Gaffney has […]


May 27, 2021

GOOD AND BAD IDEAS

A California Division of Workers’ Compensation public comment forum regarding proposed amendments to QME regulations recently closed. Amendments proposed by the DWC would make changes in the eligibility requirements for initial QME appointments and in the criteria for reappointment, alter some QME education requirements, and tweak some provisions on denial of QME reappointment or appointment. […]


May 11, 2021

STATEWIDE MPN MORPHS INTO MPN STUDY

The concept of a statewide MPN (Medical Provider Network) is dead for the foreseeable future. The California Medical Provider Network (CAMPN) was originally proposed under Assembly Bill 1465, sponsored by California Assembly members Eloise Reyes and Lorena Gonzalez. The proposal would have required the California Division of Workers’ Compensation to build out a statewide physician […]


April 29, 2021

KEEP ON TRUCKIN’

Workers have won a big victory in the Federal courts, as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that AB-5 can be enforced against the California trucking industry, and is not “pre-empted” by a Federal law known as the Federal Aviation Authorization Act of 1994. The California Trucking Association and two independent owner-operators had […]


March 29, 2021

TALES FROM A WORKING MAN’S SHRINK

Readers may be interested to note a recently published book, “Wounded Workers: Tales from a Working Man’s Shrink”. It’s authored by long-time Bay Area QME/AME Dr. Bob Larsen. Larsen, based out of San Francisco for much of his career, has been a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF and is a past president of the […]


March 17, 2021

A PANDEMIC YEAR

We’re a year into the pandemic now. It’s been a time of stress and challenges, and they are not over. The chaos has been medical, financial, cultural, spiritual, educational. Members of some worker groups and ethnic/racial groups have been hit particularly hard.  California’s workers and the workers’ comp community are still responding to the challenge, […]