Workers' compensation: enforcement.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law generally requires an employer to secure the payment of compensation, as specified, and makes it a misdemeanor to fail to secure the payment of compensation by one who knew, or because of his or her knowledge or experience should be reasonably expected to have known, of the obligation to secure the payment of compensation, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, a specified fine of not less than $10,000, or both. Existing law makes a second or subsequent conviction of this offense punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, a specified fine of not less than $50,000, or both. Existing law requires these fines to be deposited in the Workers' Compensation Fraud Account, to be used for specified purposes upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would increase the amounts of these fines to not less than $25,000 for the first offense and not less than $75,000 for the 2nd and subsequent offenses.