Commission Initiates Collaborative Study of "Carve-Outs": Alternative Workers' Compensation Programs

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation voted unanimously to design and carry out an evaluation of collectively bargained workers' compensation programs in the California construction industry, also known as "carve-outs".

With partial financial support from the Center for Worker' Rights in Washington DC, the California Self-Insurers Association, the California Workers' Compensation Institute, and Californians for Compensation Reform, the Commission has initiated a collaborative project with the DATA/Survey Research Center and the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation at Stanford University.

This independent, outside study will take an important first step for the long term evaluation of the effectiveness of alternative workers' compensation programs. The identification and establishment of baseline measurements will form the foundation for a nationwide study of such programs.

The study will provide the workers' compensation community with information on a new workers' compensation innovation and enable the eventual comparison of California's experience to those of other states.

The Commission, created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993, is charged with overseeing the health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation. The Commission was established to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system and of the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases and to examine those programs in other states.

Further information about the Commission and its activities may be obtained by writing to Christine Baker, Executive Officer, Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 2122, San Francisco, California 94102, by calling (415) 557-1304, or by faxing a request to (415) 557-1385. Information is also available through the Internet by accessing the Department of Industrial Relations' home page at www.dir.ca.gov.