Workers’ Comp rates have dropped on average about 15% in the last six months. The Sacramento Bee reports.

The Chronicle has this personal story piece on the hotel lockout.

Class-action age discrimination suit against Vons coming soon? The Fresno Bee reports.

Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, Workers Compensation Appeals Board, Agricultural Labor Relationsh Board, and Cal-OSHA official told “they’ll be back” from 9-5. The LA Times reports.

A group of injured workers has filed a legal challenge to the recent workers’ compenstaion reform. The LA Times reports.

Currently, an injured worker is allowed to choose any doctor after the first month of treatment is completed. After Jan. 1, a worker will have to pick from a pool of doctors who belong to tightly controlled physician networks organized by companies or insurers.The suit maintains that the new rule should be applied only to people hurt on the job after Jan. 1. The suit filed in Sacramento by the California Applicants’ Attorneys Assn. names as defendants the state Division of Workers’ Compensation and Director Andrea Hoch.

The CPR states that:

The variety of programs responsible for unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety frustrates businesses attempting to comply with the law and workers that deserve benefits. In addition, the duplication of administrative functions results in additional and unnecessary costs to the state.

It proposes the following fix:

…the Department should have an office that integrates all of the various appellate programs—Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Safety and Health [and Fair Employment & Housing (see chart)]—to ensure that decisions are fair and consistent and provide flexibility in assignments to prevent backlogs. The Department should centralize administrative support functions to ensure that all the operating divisions concentrate on achieving program success.

It this happens, we could see some major changes in procedures, because these different agencies work quite differently. The mostly ministerial changes proposed to the Labor Code are here.