At the 2016 PARMA Conference, David Parker, an attorney with Parker, Kern, Nard & Wenzel, discussed the strategies around defending peace officer presumption claims in California. Under California law, certain “peace officers” and first responders as defined by the statutes receive a presumption of compensability for certain conditions. Defending such cases can be extremely challenging […]

At the 2016 PARMA Annual Conference, Mark Pew from PRIUM talked about general guiding principles for developing workers’ compensation drug formularies and how this applies to current efforts in California. As has been widely reported, the misuse and abuse of opioids and other prescription drugs has reached epidemic proportions in this country. Between 1999 and […]

At the 2016 PARMA Conference, a panel discussed negative attitudes toward law enforcement and how this impacts jury selection for cases involving police officers. The panel consisted of: David Cannon with Trial Innovations Catherine Mathers with Collins, Collins, Muir and Stewart LLP Shawn Mathers with Sheriff’s Information Bureau Social Media Social media searches can be […]

At the 2016 PARMA Conference, Doug McKibbin from Keenan presented a session looking at the Total Worker Health Model.  The Total Worker Health Model is based on creating a healthier workforce with increased productivity which should, in turn, reduce your worker’s compensation and healthcare costs. The session begin with a discussion of the rising healthcare […]

At the 2016 PARMA Conference, Jeff Rush from California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA) and DeAnn Wagner from York Risk Services Group discussed how identifying the root cause of the workers’ compensation claims leads to a better approach with loss control measures, increased accountability and improved enactment of safety protocols and policies. Generally, there are […]

At the 2016 PARMA Conference, a panel discussed the interaction between workers’ compensation and disability accommodation. Many of the facts in this presentation apply to California law on these issues.  The panel was: Anthony Carlton from Chula Vista Elementary School District Marc Liebowitz from Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi LLC Robert Cutbirth from Tucker Ellis […]

At the 2016 PARMA Conference, Kathy Espinoza, board-certified ergonomist from Keenen, discussed how to build an effective safety culture focused on millennial employees. Millennials tend to be good at group work, team work, creativity and multi-tasking ability. They are very civic-minded and they were born and raised with technology. But they also have very bad […]

Conference Chronicles will be blogging from the PARMA Annual Conference held February 23-26, 2016, in Indian Wells, CA. The Public Agency Risk Managers Association (PARMA) was the first organization of its kind – formed to provide a forum for California public sector risk managers to share ideas on how to perform their duties in this […]