Free Republic

A journalist friend of mine recently attended a banquet for hundreds of private detective agencies, and was fascinated to hear them, one-by-one, introduce themselves. The fascinating part: roughly one-quarter specialized in investigating Californians who claim to be injured on the job. The fact that California's private dick industry spends so much time probing claims of back strains, pain, and other injuries is testament to the troubles afflicting the most milked, most disastrous workers comp system in the United States. Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed sweeping reform, Senate Bill 899 by Republican State Sen. Charles Poochigian of Fresno, to cleanse...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Jesse Ceniceros was at the top of his profession as a mechanic for Lockheed when he was injured on the job and fell into California's workers' compensation maze. Now, out of work, hobbled by pain and in need of hip replacements, he may lose tens of thousands of dollars in benefits because of a key part of the sweeping changes in the 91-year-old system that were pushed through the Legislature earlier this year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Other workers who suffer serious work-related injuries could face the same problem if courts decide the new law requires doctors...