Workers' compensation: return-to-work program.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Under the workers' compensation system, existing law establishes a return-to-work program for the purpose of making supplemental payments to workers whose permanent disability benefits are disproportionately low in comparison to their earnings loss. Existing law funds this program with $120,000,000 per year derived from the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund. Existing law requires the director to determine eligibility for the payments and the amount of payments, as specified. Existing law also creates a supplemental job displacement benefit for injured employees. This bill would require the director to have the program distribute, by April 1 of each year, commencing January 1, 2020, the $120,000,000 annually to eligible workers on the basis of equal shares for each eligible worker. The bill would codify the regulations governing eligibility for the payment which make a worker who is eligible to receive a supplemental job displacement benefit eligible to receive this payment. The bill would also require the employer to notify the director and the worker, in the manner adopted by the director, of the worker's eligibility for this payment. The bill would prohibit a person, including an attorney, from collecting a fee or commission for providing assistance to a worker to apply for benefits provided by the program.