The California Insurance Commissioner has approved the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s (WCIRB’s) July 1, 2020 Special Regulatory Filing, which proposed changes to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effective July 1, 2020, the changes include, but are not limited to, the following new COVID-19 rules:
- Clerical Office Employees – During the statewide California COVID-19 Shelter in Place order, the division of an employee’s payroll between Classification 8810, Clerical Office Employees, and a non-standard exception classification is permitted when the employee’s work is exclusively clerical in nature and the non-standard exception classification does not include Clerical Office Employees.
Source: Part 3, Section III, General Classification Procedures, was amended to add Rule 7, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). - Basis of Payroll – 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.
Source: Part 4, Section IV, Exposure Information, Rule 1, Classification Code, and Rule 4, Exposure Amount. - Claims Reporting – Nature of Injury and Cause of Injury positions are amended to add codes for COVID-19 claims.
Source: Part 4, Section V, Loss Information, Rule B, Loss Data Elements. - Exclusion of Claims from Experience Modification – All claims directly arising from a diagnosis of COVID-19 shall not be reflected in the computation of an experience modification.
Source: Section VI, Rating Procedure, Rule 2, Actual Losses and Actual Primary (Ap) Losses.
WCIRB Quick Reference Guide
Click here to access a quick reference guide published by the CA WCIRB which summarizes the major changes that have been approved. In addition, it includes several short and informative video clips.
WCIRB Announcement
Click here to read the announcement from the CA WCIRB published on June 17, 2020.
Insurance Commissioner Decision and Summary of Proceedings
Click here to read the Decision and additional information regarding the proceedings.
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