At long last, the State legislature has put to rest an ongoing issue that in my humble opinion, should not be a complicated or controversial one. That is, allowing electronic signatures on most documents in the Workers’ Compensation arena. Most notably, settlement documents. During the COVID-19 state of emergency, multiple, temporary changes were made to allow Workers’ Compensation matters to proceed with “business as usual”, to the fullest extent possible. This included allowing electronic signatures on important documents, such as settlement documents, to comply with restrictions on in person meetings and social distance requirements. I immediately noticed a sizable decrease change in the time it would take to get documents finalized and submitted to the court as applicant’s no longer had to wait for documents to be mailed to them for review. Nor did they need to schedule an appointment with their attorney to physically come to the office to complete forms, which could be an issue if they were working, had transportation issues, or if their attorney had a busy calendar.
In 2023, the en banc decision No. 9, addressing Case No. MISC. NO. 268 rescinded all remaining provisions or prior en banc orders regarding the pandemic due to the state of emergency being deemed as ended by Governor Newsom. Since that time, there has been a lack of uniformity with WCAB offices regarding signatures and filing of documents. Some judges still seemed to allow electronic signatures while some indicated the signature on certain documents had to be a wet signature.
AB 2337, signed before the end of the current legislative session clarifies the definition of a “signature” to allow for electronic signatures. An electronic signature is defined as “an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record, where the electronic signature is attributable to a person per the requirements of Title 2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division 3 of the Civil Code or Section 16.5 of the Government Code.” Labor Code 110.5 and 3206.5 have been created as a result of this bill.
This is good news and finally moves Workers’ Compensation matters in line with many other areas of law that allow for many contracts to be finalized with an electronic signature. The changes go into effect on 1/1/25. However, I have seen in the past week or so a few judges permitting electronic signatures at the present time on two settlement documents I have submitted for their review.
Read the full Bill here.
