Author, Dave Garcia, President, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

California Insurance Commissioner Lara has approved, as filed, the proposed special regulatory filing submitted by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) concerning proposed amendments addressing the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The special regulatory filing is effective July 1, 2020 and will apply retroactively starting March 19, 2020, the day California Governor Newsom issued the Stay-at-Home Executive Order N-33-20. Those amendments are as follows:

New COVID-19 Rule: Clerical Office Employees

Part 3, Section III, General Classification Procedures, was amended to add Rule 7, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), to permit during a statewide California COVID-19 stay-at-home order the following: The division of an employee’s payroll between Classification 8810, Clerical Office Employees, and a non-standard exception classification when the employee’s work is exclusively clerical in nature and the non-standard exception classification does not include Clerical Office Employees. This amendment will conclude 60 days after the Stay-at-Home Executive Order N-33-20 is lifted.

New COVID-19 Rule: Basis of Payroll

Part 4, Section IV, Exposure Information, Rule 1, Classification Code, and Rule 4, Exposure Amount, were amended to report payments excluded from remuneration pursuant to new Rule 7, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Payments made to an employee while the employee is performing no duties of any kind in service of the employer are to be excluded from payroll when the payments are equal to or less than the employee’s regular rate of pay. This amendment will conclude 30 days after the Stay-at-Home Executive Order N-33-20 is lifted.

New COVID-19 Rules: Claims Reporting

Part 4, Section V, Loss Information, Rule B, Loss Data Elements, Sub rule 4, Catastrophe Number, was amended to add Catastrophe Number 12 for the reporting of COVID-19 claims. Appendix III, Injury Description Codes, Section B, Nature of Injury (Positions 3-4), and Section C, Cause of Injury (Positions 5-6), were amended to add a Nature of Injury code and a Cause of Injury code for COVID-19 claims. This amendment includes claims with an accident date after December 1, 2019, reported on a Unit Statistical Report due on or after August 1, 2020, and reported with a Catastrophe Number 12.

Exclusion of COVID-19 Claims from Experience Modification

Section VI, Rating Procedure, Rule 2, Actual Losses and Actual Primary (Ap) Losses, was amended to specify that all claims directly arising from a diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) shall not be reflected in the computation of an experience modification.

For a greater understanding of these changes and how they will impact your company please contact our team at (619) 937-0164.