It would appear that the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (most commonly incorrectly called Workmans Comp) has their Public Records Act requests and FAQ up to par. It’s amazing to actually see a government agency recognize their responsibility. Of course it could all be lip service in type, but nonetheless they have done a great job in providing simple easy informative guidelines to inspect and obtain the requested records.
Remember the right to access (inspect) and the right to copies are separate. Always request the right to inspect. It costs nothing, and if they don’t have what you’re looking for, you aren’t stuck paying copy fees. Copy fees by the way are a touchy subject since some departments have digitized every single record and feel they can charge $1.00 per page. This is obviously NOT THE DIRECT COST OF DUPLICATION but that will be for another day.
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December 31st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
So are all workers comp records public. What about privacy rights?