"If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more” ~ Erica Jong
Fairs Year-round Information	F.Y.I. Volume 8, Issue 8 April 24,1998

IN FOCUS

California’s “Operation Insure” Goes After Businesses
Without Workers’ Comp Coverage

According to an article in The Sacramento Bee, The Department of Industrial Relations is making random checks of employers throughout the state to track down those without workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. This check is part of the state’s first systematic efforts to reduce workers’ comp fraud among employers, and involves matching businesses with their payroll and insurance records.

The program, called “Operation Insure” currently involves more than 1,000 businesses, and is expected to expand to include hundreds of thousands of companies after the six-month pilot stage concludes (the crackdown began in March 1998).
“Illegally uninsured employers unfairly put the vast majority of law-abiding employers who comply with California’s workers’ compensation insurance requirements at a significant competitive disadvantage,” said John Duncan, director of the Department of Industrial Relations. Some businesses that don’t provide workers’ compensation, he explained, can underbid companies that do pay for the coverage.

Here’s how Operation Insure works: Officials mail out letters to companies that don’t have insurance, gently reminding them that they must provide it. Companies that don’t respond to the letter will receive a follow-up visit from state officials. The state can then order the company’s workers to leave their jobs, with pay, until their employer purchases an insurance policy. Fines can also be levied and violations can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, though few are.

This program marks a change in tactics used to combat abuses in the workers’ compensation system. In the early 1990s, when fraud was capturing headlines and the attention of state lawmakers, most antifraud efforts were directed toward employees, insurance companies, lawyers and doctors.

Bob Nixon, CFSA’s Liability Claims administrator, wants to remind all fairs that when people are injured on your fairgrounds, it’s possible more than one person or company is responsible for the injury. If the injury arose from the use of someone else’s product, for example, the injured person and the fair will want the manufacturer and distributor to contribute toward the claim if their product was defective or dangerous. CFSA has handled claims involving chairs that have collapsed, bathroom fixtures that have failed, falling ceiling tiles, and other product malfunctions resulting in an injury.

When an accident occurs, Bob explains, it’s very important for your fair to save and clearly label any products that were involved. CFSA has had cases where a key item was discarded and the agency was unable to involve the responsible company. When this happens, the fair’s self-insurance fund may have to pay the entire claim. To preserve the “chain of evidence,” a fair employee who can vouch that a particular item was involved in an incident, should be the one who marks the identifying label or tag.

Under California law, if a fair even thinks that an injured person may make a claim based upon physical evidence, and makes no attempt to preserve this evidence, an entirely separate claim may be made against the fair. Known as a “spoliation of evidence” claim, this type of claim dictates that an injured person may recover what they would have if the evidence was still available. In other words, if evidence is unavailable, even if your fair wasn’t at fault, you may still be liable for the incident.

For information on filing a claims report and marking evidence, call Bob Nixon at 916/263-6171.

Applications are being accepted for the position of General Manager/Secretary-Manager, Chief Executive Officer of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, located in Petaluma, California.

Under the direction of the DAA’s board of directors, the CEO plans, organizes, implements and administers the development and utilization of the fairground facility which provides the public with a variety of entertainment, social, educational, cultural, and recreational activities. The CEO also directs the staff of the 4th DAA, and does other work as required. Emphasis is on administration and management, financial accounting, planning, marketing, facility enhancement, community outreach and public relations. Salary: $4,098 - $5,834 per month.

Candidates must be willing to work irregular hours and weekends, and to participate in community activities and organizations. For a complete job description, application packet, or if you have any questions, please contact:

Final filing date is May 1, 1998. All applications must be received at the specified post office box no later than 5:00 p.m. Postmarks and facsimiles will not be accepted.

Join CFSA in wishing the best of luck to Joan Bartosik, Ray Rieger, and Jackie and Graeme Stewart — all four will be leaving the agency at the end of April. Everyone at CFSA would like to thank each of them for their individual contributions to.

CFSA and wish them good fortune in the future. If you’d like to contact any of the four after April 30, please call Tom Allen, 916/263-6186, in regards to Ray Rieger; and Melissa Thurber, 916/263-6178, for Joan and the Stewarts.

Attention Fairs! Share your ideas and accomplishments with your friends and fellow fairs in F.Y.I. The Fair Exchange column is dedicated to articles from and about California’s fairs. Simply give Melissa Thurber a call, a fax, or make life really easy for yourself and add her to your fair’s press release mailing list. (She’ll even write the article for you.) Contact her at: