Managing Employee Injuries and Disability and Occupational Safety

Cases appealed to the Board are assigned to panels of three commissioners unless it is determined that a case is of such unusual significance that it should be considered by the entire Board. The Appeals Board has the same enforcement authority as courts of general jurisdiction. It has the power to promulgate rules of practice and procedure, issue subpoenas, make orders necessary to enforce its awards, punish for contempt, and appoint guardians ad litem or trustees. In addition, the Board has authority to conduct investigative hearings. 8. W ORKERS ’ C OMPENSATION J UDGES The trial judges in the workers’ compensation field are by statute denominated referees. Labor Code Section 27. The Appeals Board has conferred upon these referees the title of Workers’ Compensation Judge. The Workers’ Compensation Judge must be an attorney with five years of experience in the practice of law and shall have experience in Workers’ Compensation law (if appointed on or after 01/01/03). Workers’ Compensation Judges must maintain active membership in the State Bar during their tenure. The Workers’ Compensation Judges conduct hearings, take evidence, and render final decisions subject to the parties’ right of appeal. These judges serve primarily as trial judges assessing the credibility of witnesses, analyzing evidence, ruling on admissibility and determining both legal and factual issues.

C OVERED E MPLOYMENT

Section 2

A. E MPLOYER Generally, an employer is defined as one who employs another to perform services and who controls or has a right to control the other’s conduct in performing such services. Generally, an employer has not only the power to control, choose and direct the employee with regard to the object to be accomplished but also has the power to control the details of the work. The California Workers’ Compensation Statute defines employment as the “contract of employment by which one who is called the employer engages another who is called the employee to do something for the benefit of the employer or a third person.” Labor Code Section 2750.

The California Workers’ Compensation Act defines employer to mean:



The state and every state agency;

 Each county, city, district and all public and quasi- public corporations and public agencies therein;  Every person including any public service corporation which has any natural person in service; and

Managing Employee Injuries, Disability and Occupational Safety ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 12