The California Department of Industrial Relations has launched an Insurance Coverage Program, an enforcement program designed to identify and target employers who fail to carry workers’ compensation insurance. DIR Director John C. Duncan said the program will help “to systematically identify unlawfully uninsured employers to prioritize as enforcement targets.”
“By partnering with other agencies we are leveraging our resources to seek out illegally operating employers and to level the playing field for those who follow the laws,” he said.
Senate Bill 869, signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2007, authorizes DIR to use funds from the Workers’ Compensation Administration Revolving Fund for the enforcement of the Insurance Coverage Program. Penalties collected during the enforcement process will be credited back to the special fund.
Through an agreement developed among the agencies, employers without workers’ compensation insurance may be identified by matching data from the Employment Development Department, Uninsured Employers’ Fund, rating agencies licensed by the Insurance Commissioner, and other sources. The new law also requires the Labor Commissioner to create and post annually by March 1 a report on the division’s Web site.
“Employers who cheat by not paying workers’ comp cheat everybody,” said John Suhr, president and CEO of Suhr Risk Services of California.
For more information about DIR, visit www.dir.ca.gov.
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