Tag: Legacy

By Posted on Posted in 1997 PDRS, 2005 PDRS, Author, Calculators, Cell Phones, Combined Values Chart, DFEC Rebuttal, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,
Permanent disability calculators that will fit in your pocket!
Permanent disability calculators that will fit in any pocket!

I was at the San Jose WCAB on Friday.  Since recently discovering that I could run this website’s permanent disability rating calculators from my phone’s web browser, this was the first time I left my rating manual, money chart, and date wheel in the car. ((Photo courtesy of .robbie))

It was great.  That morning I used my phone to:

  • Find the ADJ number associated with the legacy SJO number on my file
  • Calculate an Ogilvie adjustment of a rating string
  • Calculate the number days between two dates
  • Perform old and new schedule ratings
  • Perform a CVC (combined values chart) calculation ((Oh, and I called my client at one point.  Ha!))

The benefit for me is not so much that I don’t have to carry the rating manuals, dollar value charts, and date wheels.  Unlike these tools, my phone is not something I’m going to misplace or loan and never see again.

The best part is that if I want to refer back to the calculation I just performed, I can just e-mail it to myself!

By Posted on Posted in Downloads, EAMS, PDRater, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Block Letters
Block Letters

According to a recent DIR news bulletin on November 17, 2008 the new WCAB Rules of Practice and Procedure were approved by the Office of Administrative Law and filed with the Secretary of the State and (apparently) made effective that same day.  If you haven’t already reviewed the new regulations, now’s a good time.  You can check them using the above links or download it here:

New WCAB Rules of Practice and Procedure (Effective 11-17-2008)

Since the new WCAB rules became effective, the new EAMS forms are now mandatory.  The exceptions named in the above bulletin are:

  • There will be a four-week “transition period” in effect through December 12, 2008 during which the “legacy” ((Read: non-EAMS)) forms will still be accepted.
  • Forms requiring multiple signatures will be accepted in “legacy” form as long as the filer establishes that circulation began prior to November 17, 2008.  ((I suppose the easiest way to demonstrate this is to point out that at least one of the signatures was dated prior to 11/17/2008.))
  • Unrepresented injured workers will be allowed until February 17, 2009 to use “legacy” forms.
  • Unrepresented injured workers who do not have access to a computer or typewriter will be allowed to fill in the new OCR forms by printing using block letters. ((Though, I suppose printing clearly in all-capital letters migh work better…)) ((Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk.))

Did you know there’s a handbook for the new Optical Character Recognition EAMS forms?  You can check it out here or download it here:

EAMS OCR Handbook (Rev. 11-24-2008)

By Posted on Posted in Author, Average Weekly Wage, Business, EAMS, Free, Open Source, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Wordpress, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Changing themes for a WordPress website is incredibly easy.  However, sometimes there can be slight problems in the transition.  I had heavily edited and customized the prior theme’s code so that it would be better suited to this website. ((Click this link see what the prior theme looked like.))

Fixing things
Fixing things

Changing the website’s theme has involved a few small tweaks ((Photo courtesy of CharlesThompson)) :

  • For about four days the Articles section was merged with the Blog section.  This has been fixed.
  • I’ve found a really great plugin that allows me to insert footnotes into blog posts. ((Cool, no?))  My previous attempts at inserting footnotes manually were either time consuming or incredibly clumsy.  ((A special thanks to Mr. Simon Elvery for writing this great footnote plugin.))
  • I’ve made minor alterations to the current theme – background colors, menu ordering, etc.
  • Some people were separating their WCAB “legacy” number to ADJ number searches by semi-colons, rather than commas.  I believe there’s really no sense in fighting users.  ((Unlike a certain “web-based” electronic adjudication management system…))  If a slightly different method makes sense to users, go with it.  I’ve adjusted the WCAB “legacy” number to ADJ number search function so that you can separate by semi-colons or commas. ((Or both!))
  • In printing out some Average Weekly Wage calculations, I discovered to my dismay that this website looked terrible when you tried to print it out.  Worse yet, the website header, sidebar, and other navigation information took up nearly a page.  This meant that a printout of a calculation might span two or more pages.  I’ve since fixed this using some particularly cool CSS. ((Well, my definition of cool, anyhow.))

By Posted on Posted in Calculators, EAMS, Free, Links, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,
EAMS Logo
EAMS Logo

As you may already know, the WCAB’s EAMS sub-webpage allows you to search for the new ADJ numbers or the official address for a claims administrator or representative.

Calculator
Calculator

Using the same data, I’ve written my own search engines that, to be blunt, work better.  You can find these two new search engines on the calculators page.  They are named “WCAB ←→ ADJ” and “EAMS Registered Offices”.

Later this week I’ll post about “why” and “how” I’ve developed these two new “calculators.” For now, I’ll just talk about why you’re going to want to join this site (for free!) and bookmark the calculators page.

  1. User Friendly. Search engines shouldn’t need pages of documentation.  One search box is all you really need.
  2. Easier. My search engines aren’t picky.  Enter “OAK0123456, OAK 0123456, OAK123456, OAK 000123456” and you’ll get “ADJ522195, ADJ522195, ADJ522195, ADJ522195.”  The EAMS page requires you enter the WCAB or ADJ number with no spaces and exactly 10 characters.
  3. More powerful. Search the Claims Administrators’ Offices and Representatives’ Offices database or unlimited ADJ and WCAB numbers simultaneously.
  4. Faster searches. You can search for 50 WCAB and ADJ numbers on my site in the time it takes you to search for one at the EAMS page.
  5. Better results. Although I use the same information as the WCAB search engines, I’ve designed my calculators to apply your search query to more of the information.  The result is better search hits.
  6. One page to rule them all. Both new search engines are built into the same page as the rest of my calculators.  No need to poke around the WCAB-EAMS website.  Bookmark one page and have all of the latest EAMS information right at your fingertips.

Comments, questions, criticsms always appreciated.