HOW TO FILE SANCTIONS

The Workers Compensation Appeals Board is an Administrative Law court.

These courts tend to have a mission of expediency over enforcement of the regulations.

The cost of enforcing the regulations is often more trouble than is worth for lien claimants.

The DWC notes a trend of disregard of the regulations and have increased fines.

The fly in the ointment for this fix is the infractions need to be reported.

The Workers Compensation Judges have a full plate and find reporting infractions low on the totem pole in comparison to the needs of the injured workers.

The lien claimant can forward the findings and award order to the DWC audit unit which will trigger an increased chance of investigation. (how to do it)

To compensate the lien claimant for the effort to do this, Sanctions can be requested per LC 5813 and CCR §10561 .   LC5814 may also applicable if you are the Applicant.

The following is an example of a QME doctor filing sanctions for the time to enforce the late payment penalties per LC4622. The Defense did not take it laying down, so this is a good example of the follow-up that may be needed.

Usually there is a Petition for Sanctions, Finding and Award and maybe a Petition for Reconsideration. This was an unusual case that made it up to the level that allowed it to be cited. The Citation has been used successfully to speed the resolvement of many subsequent cases.

QME's bill for services rendered: 5 month delay in making payment, & when made, penalties, 10%, & interest, 7%, not included per L.C. 4622, but QME persisted, penalties/interest finally paid and QME was awarded an additional $500 in sanctions, L.C. 5813, Jackson vs SCIF 35 CWCR 215, 2007 LexisNPD 53

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