San Francisco, CA – The Division of Workers’ Compensation recently posted the 2019 Ethics Advisory Committee’s annual report on its website.
The Workers’ Compensation Ethics Advisory Committee is a state committee independent from DWC that is charged with reviewing and monitoring complaints of misconduct filed against workers’ compensation administrative law judges.
The Ethics Advisory Committee is required to make a public report each year summarizing activities in the previous calendar year.
Caseload
The EAC’s caseload consists of complaints still pending at the end of the prior year and newly filed complaints. The total caseload for 2019 was 32 complaints.
In calendar year 2019, the EAC considered and resolved 5 complaints from 2018: 4 pending ongoing investigation (meaning that an investigation was requested and was not concluded by the end of the year) and 1 pending consideration (meaning that the complaint was filed after the last meeting of the year). The 1 complaint pending consideration led to an investigation.
Of 27 new complaints received in 2019, the EAC considered 24 and resolved 21. Of those considered, 9 resulted in investigations, 6 of which were concluded. A total of 26 complaints were resolved, which includes the 5 complaints from 2018. Three complaints are pending ongoing investigation, and 3 are pending consideration.
The complaints set forth a wide variety of grievances. A large proportion alleged legal error not involving judicial misconduct or expressed dissatisfaction with a judge’s decision. Of the 26 resolved complaints, 2 resulted in findings of judicial misconduct for which the committee recommended further action by the CJ or the administrative director.
View the report: CA DWC: Ethics Advisory Committee Annual Report for 2019 (PDF)
Source: CA DWC