The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s Actuarial Committee is set to talk about insurer experience, and the impact of the economic slowdown on the pure premium.

The committee is set to meet virtually at 9:30 a..m on March 21. The meeting is open to the public.

California’s State Average Weekly Wage rose by more than 5% in the year ending March 31, 2022, which will result in an increase in California workers’ compensation temporary total disability and permanent total disability rates for 2023 work injury claims and other workers’ compensation benefits that are tied to SAWW increases, the California Workers’ Compensation Institute is reporting.

The latest wage data from the U.S. Department of Labor examined by CWCI show that California’s SAWW increased by 5.159% from $1,570 in the first quarter of 2021 to $1,651 in the first quarter of 2022.

As a result, the TTD/PTD maximum rate, which stands at $1,539.71 per week for 2022 injuries following a record increase of more than 13.5% that took effect last January, will increase by an additional $79.44 to $1,619.15 per week for claims with injury dates on or after Jan. 1, 2023.

Edgardo Cabrales Sr., 61, and his son, Edgar Cabrales Jr., 36, both of San Jose, California, were charged with five felony counts each of insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation found they allegedly underreported $12 million in employee wages and payroll to save on workers’ compensation insurance premiums.

The Cabrales own two commercial cleaning companies in San Jose: Pine Building Maintenance and Network Facility Management.

An investigation by the California Department of Insurance resulted in the arrest last week of Rene Carlos Aguero, 71, and Gustavo Adolfo Lopez, 56, for allegedly submitting fraudulent vocational training vouchers for workers’ compensation claims and failing to provide the training at the for-profit school they run, Computer Institute of Technology.

Many of the injured workers were Spanish speakers who were asked to sign documents in English, which they did not understand, according to investigators.

Aguero and Lopez were charged with 18 felony counts, including conspiracy, insurance fraud, grand theft and forgery. The CDI estimates the fraudulent insurance claims to reach $1.7 million.

The summer surge of COVID-19 claims that hit the California workers’ compensation system in July and August appears to have run its course, according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.

A CWCI analysis released on Tuesday shows the number of claims reported to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation in September and October fell sharply, with the projected claim count for October falling to 3,621 cases, down nearly 56% from the 8,197 claims projected for the summer peak in August.