The Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) and Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) announced today that beginning June 8, the DWC will hear up to 3 lien conferences per judge per calendar session via the individually assigned judges' conference lines.
Lien conferences exceeding that number will be continued.
According to the DWC Newsline, all other procedures will remain as previously announced. The
DWC will continue to hear all mandatory settlement conferences, priority conferences, status conferences, case-in-chief trials and expedited hearings telephonically via the
individually assigned judges’ conference lines,
and will continue to only accept the filing of documents via EAMS, JET file or by U.S. mail. W
alk-in filings, walk-through documents, or in-person appearances or filings are still not permitted at this time.
The DWC will also continue to accept
limited email filings for documents that are subject to a statute of limitations that cannot otherwise be efiled, JET filed, or filed by U.S. mail, and will continue to accept electronic signatures for any settlement documents, applications, pleadings, petitions or motions being sent to the district offices or filed in EAMS.
In relation to the telephonic calendar,
CAAA has been in contact with the DWC dating back to March to get a procedure in place for video trials, including the Zoom platform. At one point, CAAA was advised by the DWC that the delay in implementing video trials was due to some technology obstacles, but a procedure would be launched by early June. There have been no recent updates.
CAAA will continue to call on the DWC to implement a solution to help move trials forward as quickly as possible.
