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Improving Dispute Resolution for California's Injured Workers
For more than two decades, the workers' compensation courts increasingly have been perceived as a weak link in the California workers' compensation system. The courts have been criticized for being slow, expensive, and procedurally inconsistent. In response to these concerns, the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation engaged the RAND Institute for Civil Justice to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the workers' compensation courts in the state. The research team analyzed the causes of delay in the resolution of workers' compensation disputes, the reasons for the high costs of litigation, and why procedures are inconsistent across the state. They found that the courts' problems stem largely from severe understaffing, the failure to upgrade their management information system, and a lack of clear guidance and coordination in the governing rules and procedures. The study team proposes a number of recommendations for change (covering areas such as staffing, technology, judicial training, calendaring, continuance policies, internal office practices, and case management) that are designed to improve the process of dispute resolution for California's injured workers.
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Available as CD-ROM attached to MR-1425/1
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Contents
Part One: Background and Methodology
Chapter 1:
"...A Feeling of Crisis..."
Chapter 2:
RAND-ICJ's Approach to Understanding the WCAB Judicial Function
Part Two: Past History & Current Status of Workers' Compensation Dispute Resolution
Chapter 3:
Overview of the California Workers Compensation Adjudication Process and Administration
Chapter 4:
Evolution of the Workers' Compensation Judicial Process in California
Chapter 5:
The Current Workload of the WCAB
Chapter 6:
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Speed of Litigation
Chapter 7:
Office Comparisons
Chapter 8:
Judicial Time Expenditures
Chapter 9:
Judicial Time Expenditures
Chapter 10:
Staffing and Related Budgetary Issues
Part Three: Findings and Recommendations
Chapter 11:
Personnel at DWC Branch offices
Chapter 12:
Interoffice and Interjudge Variation in Procedures and Decisionmaking
Chapter 13:
Pretrial Practices at DWC Branch Offices
Chapter 14:
Case Management
Chapter 15:
Review of Attorney's Fee Requests and Proposed Settlements
Chapter 16:
Trial and Posttrial Procedures
Chapter 17:
Court Technology
Chapter 18:
"Customer Satisfaction" and the WCAB Experience
Chapter 19:
Workers' Compensation Adjudication Management and Policy
Chapter 20:
Improving "The People's Court"
Appendix A:
Complete List of Recommendations
Appendix B:
Frequently Used Abbreviations
The research described in this report was prepared for the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation. This research was conducted by the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.
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