3600. (a) Liability for the compensation provided by this division,
in lieu of any other liability whatsoever to any person except as
otherwise specifically provided in Sections 3602, 3706, and 4558,
shall, without regard to negligence, exist against an employer for
any injury sustained by his or her employees arising out of and in
the course of the employment and for the death of any employee if the
injury proximately causes death, in those cases where the following
conditions of compensation concur:
(1) Where, at the time of the injury, both the employer and the
employee are subject to the compensation provisions of this division.
(2) Where, at the time of the injury, the employee is performing
service growing out of and incidental to his or her employment and is
acting within the course of his or her employment.
(3) Where the injury is proximately caused by the employment,
either with or without negligence.
(4) Where the injury is not caused by the intoxication, by alcohol
or the unlawful use of a controlled substance, of the injured
employee. As used in this paragraph, "controlled substance" shall
have the same meaning as prescribed in Section 11007 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(5) Where the injury is not intentionally self-inflicted.
(6) Where the employee has not willfully and deliberately caused
his or her own death.
(7) Where the injury does not arise out of an altercation in which
the injured employee is the initial physical aggressor.
(8) Where the injury is not caused by the commission of a felony,
or a crime which is punishable as specified in subdivision (b) of
Section 17 of the Penal Code, by the injured employee, for which he
or she has been convicted.
(9) Where the injury does not arise out of voluntary participation
in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity not
constituting part of the employee's work-related duties, except where
these activities are a reasonable expectancy of, or are expressly or
impliedly required by, the employment. The administrative director
shall promulgate reasonable rules and regulations requiring employers
to post and keep posted in a conspicuous place or places a notice
advising employees of the provisions of this subdivision. Failure of
the employer to post the notice shall not constitute an expression of
intent to waive the provisions of this subdivision.
(10) Except for psychiatric injuries governed by subdivision (e)
of Section 3208.3, where the claim for compensation is filed after
notice of termination or layoff, including voluntary layoff, and the
claim is for an injury occurring prior to the time of notice of
termination or layoff, no compensation shall be paid unless the
employee demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that one or
more of the following conditions apply:
(A) The employer has notice of the injury, as provided under
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5400), prior to the notice of
termination or layoff.
(B) The employee's medical records, existing prior to the notice
of termination or layoff, contain evidence of the injury.
(C) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5411, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff, but
prior to the effective date of the termination or layoff.
(D) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5412, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff.
For purposes of this paragraph, an employee provided notice
pursuant to Sections 44948.5, 44949, 44951, 44955, 72411, 87740, and
87743 of the Education Code shall be considered to have been provided
a notice of termination or layoff only upon a district's final
decision not to reemploy that person.
A notice of termination or layoff that is not followed within 60
days by that termination or layoff shall not be subject to the
provisions of this paragraph, and this paragraph shall not apply
until receipt of a later notice of termination or layoff. The
issuance of frequent notices of termination or layoff to an employee
shall be considered a bad faith personnel action and shall make this
paragraph inapplicable to the employee.
(b) Where an employee, or his or her dependents, receives the
compensation provided by this division and secures a judgment for, or
settlement of, civil damages pursuant to those specific exemptions
to the employee's exclusive remedy set forth in subdivision (b) of
Section 3602 and Section 4558, the compensation paid under this
division shall be credited against the judgment or settlement, and
the employer shall be relieved from the obligation to pay further
compensation to, or on behalf of, the employee or his or her
dependents up to the net amount of the judgment or settlement
received by the employee or his or her heirs, or that portion of the
judgment as has been satisfied.
(c) For purposes of determining whether to grant or deny a workers'
compensation claim, if an employee is injured or killed by a third
party in the course of the employee's employment, no personal
relationship or personal connection shall be deemed to exist between
the employee and the third party based only on a determination that
the third party injured or killed the employee solely because of the
third party's personal beliefs relating to his or her perception of
the employee's race, religious creed, color, national origin, age,
gender, disability, sex, or sexual orientation.
3600.1. (a) Whenever any firefighter of the state, as defined in
Section 19886 of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is
disabled from performing his or her duties as a firefighter by reason
of his or her proceeding to or engaging in a fire-suppression or
rescue operation, or the protection or preservation of life or
property, anywhere in this state, including the jurisdiction in which
he or she is employed, but is not at the time acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer, he or she or his or her
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his or her
employer all of the same benefits of this division that he, she, or
they would have received had that firefighter been acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer. Any injury, disability,
or death incurred under the circumstances described in this section
shall be deemed to have arisen out of, and been sustained in, the
course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation and all
other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to do either of the
following:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who, at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability, is acting for
compensation from one other than the state.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by the state where by departmental regulation, whether now
in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, the activity giving
rise to the injury, disability, or death is expressly prohibited.
(c) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the
provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Section 3517.5 of the Government Code, the memorandum of
understanding shall be controlling without further legislative
action, except that if the provisions of a memorandum of
understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions shall
not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act.
3600.2. (a) Whenever any peace officer, as defined in Section 50920
of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is disabled from
performing his duties as a peace officer by reason of engaging in the
apprehension or attempted apprehension of law violators or suspected
law violators, or protection or preservation of life or property, or
the preservation of the peace anywhere in this state, including the
local jurisdiction in which he is employed, but is not at the time
acting under the immediate direction of his employer, he or his
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his employer all
of the same benefits, including the benefits of this division, which
he or they would have received had that peace officer been acting
under the immediate direction of his employer. Any injury,
disability, or death incurred under the circumstances described in
this section shall be deemed to have arisen out of and been sustained
in the course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation
and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer who
at the time of his injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
judicial district, or town of his primary employment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer
employed by a city, county, city and county, judicial district, or
town which by charter, ordinance, or departmental regulation, whether
now in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, expressly
prohibits the activity giving rise to the injury, disability, or
death.
(3) Enlarge or extend the authority of any peace officer to make
an arrest; provided, however, that illegality of the arrest shall not
affect the extension of benefits by reason of this act if the peace
officer reasonably believed that the arrest was not illegal.
3600.3. (a) For the purposes of Section 3600, an off-duty peace
officer, as defined in subdivision (b), who is performing, within the
jurisdiction of his or her employing agency, a service he or she
would, in the course of his or her employment, have been required to
perform if he or she were on duty, is performing a service growing
out of and incidental to his or her employment and is acting within
the course of his or her employment if, as a condition of his or her
employment, he or she is required to be on call within the
jurisdiction during off-duty hours.
(b) As used in subdivision (a), "peace officer" means those
employees of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection named as
peace officers for purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 830.37 of
the Penal Code.
(c) This section does not apply to any off-duty peace officer
while he or she is engaged, either as an employee or as an
independent contractor, in any capacity other than as a peace
officer.
3600.4. (a) Whenever any firefighter of a city, county, city and
county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or
political subdivision, or any firefighter employed by a private
entity, is injured, dies, or is disabled from performing his or her
duties as a firefighter by reason of his or her proceeding to or
engaging in a fire suppression or rescue operation, or the protection
or preservation of life or property, anywhere in this state,
including the local jurisdiction in which he or she is employed, but
is not at the time acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer, he or she or his or her dependents, as the case may be,
shall be accorded by his or her employer all of the same benefits of
this division which he or she or they would have received had that
firefighter been acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer. Any injury, disability, or death incurred under the
circumstances described in this section shall be deemed to have
arisen out of and been sustained in the course of employment for
purposes of workers' compensation and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
district, or other public or municipal corporation or political
subdivision, or private entity, of his or her primary employment or
enrollment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by a city, county, city and county, district, or other
public or municipal corporation or political subdivision, or private
entity, which by charter, ordinance, departmental regulation, or
private employer policy, whether now in force or hereafter enacted or
promulgated, expressly prohibits the activity giving rise to the
injury, disability, or death. However, this paragraph shall not apply
to relieve the employer from liability for benefits for any injury,
disability, or death of a firefighter when the firefighter is acting
pursuant to Section 1799.107 of the Health and Safety Code.
3600.5. (a) If an employee who has been hired or is regularly
employed in the state receives personal injury by accident arising
out of and in the course of such employment outside of this state,
he, or his dependents, in the case of his death, shall be entitled to
compensation according to the law of this state.
(b) Any employee who has been hired outside of this state and his
employer shall be exempted from the provisions of this division while
such employee is temporarily within this state doing work for his
employer if such employer has furnished workmen's compensation
insurance coverage under the workmen's compensation insurance or
similar laws of a state other than California, so as to cover such
employee's employment while in this state; provided, the
extraterritorial provisions of this division are recognized in such
other state and provided employers and employees who are covered in
this state are likewise exempted from the application of the workmen'
s compensation insurance or similar laws of such other state. The
benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Insurance Act or similar
laws of such other state, or other remedies under such act or such
laws, shall be the exclusive remedy against such employer for any
injury, whether resulting in death or not, received by such employee
while working for such employer in this state.
A certificate from the duly authorized officer of the appeals
board or similar department of another state certifying that the
employer of such other state is insured therein and has provided
extraterritorial coverage insuring his employees while working within
this state shall be prima facie evidence that such employer carries
such workmen's compensation insurance.
3600.6. Disaster service workers registered by a disaster council
while performing services under the general direction of the disaster
council shall be entitled to all of the same benefits of this
division as any other injured employee, except as provided by Chapter
10 (commencing with Section 4351) of Part 1. For purposes of this
section, an unregistered person impressed into performing service as
a disaster service worker during a state of war emergency, a state of
emergency, or a local emergency by a person having authority to
command the aid of citizens in the execution of his or her duties
shall also be deemed a disaster service worker and shall be entitled
to the same benefits of this division as any other disaster service
worker.
3600.8. (a) No employee who voluntarily participates in an
alternative commute program that is sponsored or mandated by a
governmental entity shall be considered to be acting within the
course of his or her employment while utilizing that program to
travel to or from his or her place of employment, unless he or she is
paid a regular wage or salary in compensation for those periods of
travel. An employee who is injured while acting outside the course of
his or her employment, or his or her dependents in the event of the
employee's death, shall not be barred from bringing an action at law
for damages against his or her employer as a result of this section.
(b) Any alternative commute program provided, sponsored, or
subsidized by an employee's employer in order to comply with any trip
reduction mandates of an air quality management district or local
government shall be considered a program mandated by a governmental
entity. An employer's reimbursement of employee expenses or
subsidization of costs related to an alternative commute program
shall not be considered payment of a wage or salary in compensation
for the period of travel. If an employer's salary is not based on the
hours the employee works, payment of his or her salary shall not be
considered to be in compensation for the period of travel unless
there is a specific written agreement between the employer and the
employee to that effect. If an employer elects to provide workers'
compensation coverage for those employees who are passengers in a
vehicle owned and operated by the employer or an agent thereof, those
employees shall be considered to be within the course of their
employment, provided the employer notifies employees in writing prior
to participation of the employee or coverage becoming effective.
(c) As used in this section, "governmental entity" means a
regional air district, air quality management district, congestion
management agency, or other local jurisdiction having authority to
enact air pollution or congestion management controls or impose them
upon entities within its jurisdiction.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, vanpool programs
may continue to provide workers' compensation benefits to employees
who participate in an alternative commute program by riding in a
vanpool, in the case in which the vanpool vehicle is owned or
registered to the employer.
(e) Employees of the state who participate in an alternative
commute program, while riding in a vanpool vehicle that is registered
to or owned by the state, shall be deemed to be within the course
and scope of employment for workers' compensation purposes only.
3601. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation, pursuant to the
provisions of this division is, except as specifically provided in
this section, the exclusive remedy for injury or death of an employee
against any other employee of the employer acting within the scope
of his or her employment, except that an employee, or his or her
dependents in the event of his or her death, shall, in addition to
the right to compensation against the employer, have a right to bring
an action at law for damages against the other employee, as if this
division did not apply, in either of the following cases:
(1) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the willful
and unprovoked physical act of aggression of the other employee.
(2) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the
intoxication of the other employee.
(b) In no event, either by legal action or by agreement whether
entered into by the other employee or on his or her behalf, shall the
employer be held liable, directly or indirectly, for damages awarded
against, or for a liability incurred by the other employee under
paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a).
(c) No employee shall be held liable, directly or indirectly, to
his or her employer, for injury or death of a coemployee except where
the injured employee or his or her dependents obtain a recovery
under subdivision (a).
3602. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation is, except as
specifically provided in this section and Sections 3706 and 4558, the
sole and exclusive remedy of the employee or his or her dependents
against the employer, and the fact that either the employee or the
employer also occupied another or dual capacity prior to, or at the
time of, the employee's industrial injury shall not permit the
employee or his or her dependents to bring an action at law for
damages against the employer.
(b) An employee, or his or her dependents in the event of his or
her death, may bring an action at law for damages against the
employer, as if this division did not apply, in the following
instances:
(1) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a willful physical assault by the employer.
(2) Where the employee's injury is aggravated by the employer's
fraudulent concealment of the existence of the injury and its
connection with the employment, in which case the employer's
liability shall be limited to those damages proximately caused by the
aggravation. The burden of proof respecting apportionment of damages
between the injury and any subsequent aggravation thereof is upon
the employer.
(3) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a defective product manufactured by the employer and sold, leased, or
otherwise transferred for valuable consideration to an independent
third person, and that product is thereafter provided for the
employee's use by a third person.
(c) In all cases where the conditions of compensation set forth in
Section 3600 do not concur, the liability of the employer shall be
the same as if this division had not been enacted.
(d) For the purposes of this division, including Sections 3700 and
3706, an employer may secure the payment of compensation on
employees provided to it by agreement by another employer by entering
into a valid and enforceable agreement with that other employer
under which the other employer agrees to obtain, and has, in fact,
obtained workers' compensation coverage for those employees. In those
cases, both employers shall be considered to have secured the
payment of compensation within the meaning of this section and
Sections 3700 and 3706 if there is a valid and enforceable agreement
between the employers to obtain that coverage, and that coverage, as
specified in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 3700, has been in fact
obtained, and the coverage remains in effect for the duration of the
employment providing legally sufficient coverage to the employee or
employees who form the subject matter of the coverage. That agreement
shall not be made for the purpose of avoiding an employer's
appropriate experience rating as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 11730 of the Insurance Code.
Employers who have complied with this subdivision shall not be
subject to civil, criminal, or other penalties for failure to provide
workers' compensation coverage or tort liability in the event of
employee injury, but may, in the absence of compliance, be subject to
all three.
3603. Payment of compensation in accordance with the order and
direction of the appeals board shall discharge the employer from all
claims therefor.
3604. It is not a defense to the State, any county, city, district
or institution thereof, or any public or quasi-public corporation,
that a person injured while rendering service for it was not lawfully
employed by reason of the violation of any civil service or other
law or regulation respecting the hiring of employees.
3605. The compensation due an injured minor may be paid to him
until his parent or guardian gives the employer or the latter's
compensation insurance carrier written notice that he claims such
compensation.
Compensation paid to such injured minor prior to receipt of such
written notice is in full release of the employer and insurance
carrier for the amount so paid. The minor can not disaffirm such
payment upon appointment of a guardian or coming of age.
3600. (a) Liability for the compensation provided by this division,
in lieu of any other liability whatsoever to any person except as
otherwise specifically provided in Sections 3602, 3706, and 4558,
shall, without regard to negligence, exist against an employer for
any injury sustained by his or her employees arising out of and in
the course of the employment and for the death of any employee if the
injury proximately causes death, in those cases where the following
conditions of compensation concur:
(1) Where, at the time of the injury, both the employer and the
employee are subject to the compensation provisions of this division.
(2) Where, at the time of the injury, the employee is performing
service growing out of and incidental to his or her employment and is
acting within the course of his or her employment.
(3) Where the injury is proximately caused by the employment,
either with or without negligence.
(4) Where the injury is not caused by the intoxication, by alcohol
or the unlawful use of a controlled substance, of the injured
employee. As used in this paragraph, "controlled substance" shall
have the same meaning as prescribed in Section 11007 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(5) Where the injury is not intentionally self-inflicted.
(6) Where the employee has not willfully and deliberately caused
his or her own death.
(7) Where the injury does not arise out of an altercation in which
the injured employee is the initial physical aggressor.
(8) Where the injury is not caused by the commission of a felony,
or a crime which is punishable as specified in subdivision (b) of
Section 17 of the Penal Code, by the injured employee, for which he
or she has been convicted.
(9) Where the injury does not arise out of voluntary participation
in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity not
constituting part of the employee's work-related duties, except where
these activities are a reasonable expectancy of, or are expressly or
impliedly required by, the employment. The administrative director
shall promulgate reasonable rules and regulations requiring employers
to post and keep posted in a conspicuous place or places a notice
advising employees of the provisions of this subdivision. Failure of
the employer to post the notice shall not constitute an expression of
intent to waive the provisions of this subdivision.
(10) Except for psychiatric injuries governed by subdivision (e)
of Section 3208.3, where the claim for compensation is filed after
notice of termination or layoff, including voluntary layoff, and the
claim is for an injury occurring prior to the time of notice of
termination or layoff, no compensation shall be paid unless the
employee demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that one or
more of the following conditions apply:
(A) The employer has notice of the injury, as provided under
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5400), prior to the notice of
termination or layoff.
(B) The employee's medical records, existing prior to the notice
of termination or layoff, contain evidence of the injury.
(C) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5411, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff, but
prior to the effective date of the termination or layoff.
(D) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5412, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff.
For purposes of this paragraph, an employee provided notice
pursuant to Sections 44948.5, 44949, 44951, 44955, 72411, 87740, and
87743 of the Education Code shall be considered to have been provided
a notice of termination or layoff only upon a district's final
decision not to reemploy that person.
A notice of termination or layoff that is not followed within 60
days by that termination or layoff shall not be subject to the
provisions of this paragraph, and this paragraph shall not apply
until receipt of a later notice of termination or layoff. The
issuance of frequent notices of termination or layoff to an employee
shall be considered a bad faith personnel action and shall make this
paragraph inapplicable to the employee.
(b) Where an employee, or his or her dependents, receives the
compensation provided by this division and secures a judgment for, or
settlement of, civil damages pursuant to those specific exemptions
to the employee's exclusive remedy set forth in subdivision (b) of
Section 3602 and Section 4558, the compensation paid under this
division shall be credited against the judgment or settlement, and
the employer shall be relieved from the obligation to pay further
compensation to, or on behalf of, the employee or his or her
dependents up to the net amount of the judgment or settlement
received by the employee or his or her heirs, or that portion of the
judgment as has been satisfied.
(c) For purposes of determining whether to grant or deny a workers'
compensation claim, if an employee is injured or killed by a third
party in the course of the employee's employment, no personal
relationship or personal connection shall be deemed to exist between
the employee and the third party based only on a determination that
the third party injured or killed the employee solely because of the
third party's personal beliefs relating to his or her perception of
the employee's race, religious creed, color, national origin, age,
gender, disability, sex, or sexual orientation.
3600.1. (a) Whenever any firefighter of the state, as defined in
Section 19886 of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is
disabled from performing his or her duties as a firefighter by reason
of his or her proceeding to or engaging in a fire-suppression or
rescue operation, or the protection or preservation of life or
property, anywhere in this state, including the jurisdiction in which
he or she is employed, but is not at the time acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer, he or she or his or her
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his or her
employer all of the same benefits of this division that he, she, or
they would have received had that firefighter been acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer. Any injury, disability,
or death incurred under the circumstances described in this section
shall be deemed to have arisen out of, and been sustained in, the
course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation and all
other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to do either of the
following:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who, at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability, is acting for
compensation from one other than the state.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by the state where by departmental regulation, whether now
in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, the activity giving
rise to the injury, disability, or death is expressly prohibited.
(c) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the
provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Section 3517.5 of the Government Code, the memorandum of
understanding shall be controlling without further legislative
action, except that if the provisions of a memorandum of
understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions shall
not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act.
3600.2. (a) Whenever any peace officer, as defined in Section 50920
of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is disabled from
performing his duties as a peace officer by reason of engaging in the
apprehension or attempted apprehension of law violators or suspected
law violators, or protection or preservation of life or property, or
the preservation of the peace anywhere in this state, including the
local jurisdiction in which he is employed, but is not at the time
acting under the immediate direction of his employer, he or his
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his employer all
of the same benefits, including the benefits of this division, which
he or they would have received had that peace officer been acting
under the immediate direction of his employer. Any injury,
disability, or death incurred under the circumstances described in
this section shall be deemed to have arisen out of and been sustained
in the course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation
and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer who
at the time of his injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
judicial district, or town of his primary employment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer
employed by a city, county, city and county, judicial district, or
town which by charter, ordinance, or departmental regulation, whether
now in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, expressly
prohibits the activity giving rise to the injury, disability, or
death.
(3) Enlarge or extend the authority of any peace officer to make
an arrest; provided, however, that illegality of the arrest shall not
affect the extension of benefits by reason of this act if the peace
officer reasonably believed that the arrest was not illegal.
3600.3. (a) For the purposes of Section 3600, an off-duty peace
officer, as defined in subdivision (b), who is performing, within the
jurisdiction of his or her employing agency, a service he or she
would, in the course of his or her employment, have been required to
perform if he or she were on duty, is performing a service growing
out of and incidental to his or her employment and is acting within
the course of his or her employment if, as a condition of his or her
employment, he or she is required to be on call within the
jurisdiction during off-duty hours.
(b) As used in subdivision (a), "peace officer" means those
employees of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection named as
peace officers for purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 830.37 of
the Penal Code.
(c) This section does not apply to any off-duty peace officer
while he or she is engaged, either as an employee or as an
independent contractor, in any capacity other than as a peace
officer.
3600.4. (a) Whenever any firefighter of a city, county, city and
county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or
political subdivision, or any firefighter employed by a private
entity, is injured, dies, or is disabled from performing his or her
duties as a firefighter by reason of his or her proceeding to or
engaging in a fire suppression or rescue operation, or the protection
or preservation of life or property, anywhere in this state,
including the local jurisdiction in which he or she is employed, but
is not at the time acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer, he or she or his or her dependents, as the case may be,
shall be accorded by his or her employer all of the same benefits of
this division which he or she or they would have received had that
firefighter been acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer. Any injury, disability, or death incurred under the
circumstances described in this section shall be deemed to have
arisen out of and been sustained in the course of employment for
purposes of workers' compensation and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
district, or other public or municipal corporation or political
subdivision, or private entity, of his or her primary employment or
enrollment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by a city, county, city and county, district, or other
public or municipal corporation or political subdivision, or private
entity, which by charter, ordinance, departmental regulation, or
private employer policy, whether now in force or hereafter enacted or
promulgated, expressly prohibits the activity giving rise to the
injury, disability, or death. However, this paragraph shall not apply
to relieve the employer from liability for benefits for any injury,
disability, or death of a firefighter when the firefighter is acting
pursuant to Section 1799.107 of the Health and Safety Code.
3600.5. (a) If an employee who has been hired or is regularly
employed in the state receives personal injury by accident arising
out of and in the course of such employment outside of this state,
he, or his dependents, in the case of his death, shall be entitled to
compensation according to the law of this state.
(b) Any employee who has been hired outside of this state and his
employer shall be exempted from the provisions of this division while
such employee is temporarily within this state doing work for his
employer if such employer has furnished workmen's compensation
insurance coverage under the workmen's compensation insurance or
similar laws of a state other than California, so as to cover such
employee's employment while in this state; provided, the
extraterritorial provisions of this division are recognized in such
other state and provided employers and employees who are covered in
this state are likewise exempted from the application of the workmen'
s compensation insurance or similar laws of such other state. The
benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Insurance Act or similar
laws of such other state, or other remedies under such act or such
laws, shall be the exclusive remedy against such employer for any
injury, whether resulting in death or not, received by such employee
while working for such employer in this state.
A certificate from the duly authorized officer of the appeals
board or similar department of another state certifying that the
employer of such other state is insured therein and has provided
extraterritorial coverage insuring his employees while working within
this state shall be prima facie evidence that such employer carries
such workmen's compensation insurance.
3600.6. Disaster service workers registered by a disaster council
while performing services under the general direction of the disaster
council shall be entitled to all of the same benefits of this
division as any other injured employee, except as provided by Chapter
10 (commencing with Section 4351) of Part 1. For purposes of this
section, an unregistered person impressed into performing service as
a disaster service worker during a state of war emergency, a state of
emergency, or a local emergency by a person having authority to
command the aid of citizens in the execution of his or her duties
shall also be deemed a disaster service worker and shall be entitled
to the same benefits of this division as any other disaster service
worker.
3600.8. (a) No employee who voluntarily participates in an
alternative commute program that is sponsored or mandated by a
governmental entity shall be considered to be acting within the
course of his or her employment while utilizing that program to
travel to or from his or her place of employment, unless he or she is
paid a regular wage or salary in compensation for those periods of
travel. An employee who is injured while acting outside the course of
his or her employment, or his or her dependents in the event of the
employee's death, shall not be barred from bringing an action at law
for damages against his or her employer as a result of this section.
(b) Any alternative commute program provided, sponsored, or
subsidized by an employee's employer in order to comply with any trip
reduction mandates of an air quality management district or local
government shall be considered a program mandated by a governmental
entity. An employer's reimbursement of employee expenses or
subsidization of costs related to an alternative commute program
shall not be considered payment of a wage or salary in compensation
for the period of travel. If an employer's salary is not based on the
hours the employee works, payment of his or her salary shall not be
considered to be in compensation for the period of travel unless
there is a specific written agreement between the employer and the
employee to that effect. If an employer elects to provide workers'
compensation coverage for those employees who are passengers in a
vehicle owned and operated by the employer or an agent thereof, those
employees shall be considered to be within the course of their
employment, provided the employer notifies employees in writing prior
to participation of the employee or coverage becoming effective.
(c) As used in this section, "governmental entity" means a
regional air district, air quality management district, congestion
management agency, or other local jurisdiction having authority to
enact air pollution or congestion management controls or impose them
upon entities within its jurisdiction.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, vanpool programs
may continue to provide workers' compensation benefits to employees
who participate in an alternative commute program by riding in a
vanpool, in the case in which the vanpool vehicle is owned or
registered to the employer.
(e) Employees of the state who participate in an alternative
commute program, while riding in a vanpool vehicle that is registered
to or owned by the state, shall be deemed to be within the course
and scope of employment for workers' compensation purposes only.
3601. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation, pursuant to the
provisions of this division is, except as specifically provided in
this section, the exclusive remedy for injury or death of an employee
against any other employee of the employer acting within the scope
of his or her employment, except that an employee, or his or her
dependents in the event of his or her death, shall, in addition to
the right to compensation against the employer, have a right to bring
an action at law for damages against the other employee, as if this
division did not apply, in either of the following cases:
(1) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the willful
and unprovoked physical act of aggression of the other employee.
(2) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the
intoxication of the other employee.
(b) In no event, either by legal action or by agreement whether
entered into by the other employee or on his or her behalf, shall the
employer be held liable, directly or indirectly, for damages awarded
against, or for a liability incurred by the other employee under
paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a).
(c) No employee shall be held liable, directly or indirectly, to
his or her employer, for injury or death of a coemployee except where
the injured employee or his or her dependents obtain a recovery
under subdivision (a).
3602. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation is, except as
specifically provided in this section and Sections 3706 and 4558, the
sole and exclusive remedy of the employee or his or her dependents
against the employer, and the fact that either the employee or the
employer also occupied another or dual capacity prior to, or at the
time of, the employee's industrial injury shall not permit the
employee or his or her dependents to bring an action at law for
damages against the employer.
(b) An employee, or his or her dependents in the event of his or
her death, may bring an action at law for damages against the
employer, as if this division did not apply, in the following
instances:
(1) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a willful physical assault by the employer.
(2) Where the employee's injury is aggravated by the employer's
fraudulent concealment of the existence of the injury and its
connection with the employment, in which case the employer's
liability shall be limited to those damages proximately caused by the
aggravation. The burden of proof respecting apportionment of damages
between the injury and any subsequent aggravation thereof is upon
the employer.
(3) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a defective product manufactured by the employer and sold, leased, or
otherwise transferred for valuable consideration to an independent
third person, and that product is thereafter provided for the
employee's use by a third person.
(c) In all cases where the conditions of compensation set forth in
Section 3600 do not concur, the liability of the employer shall be
the same as if this division had not been enacted.
(d) For the purposes of this division, including Sections 3700 and
3706, an employer may secure the payment of compensation on
employees provided to it by agreement by another employer by entering
into a valid and enforceable agreement with that other employer
under which the other employer agrees to obtain, and has, in fact,
obtained workers' compensation coverage for those employees. In those
cases, both employers shall be considered to have secured the
payment of compensation within the meaning of this section and
Sections 3700 and 3706 if there is a valid and enforceable agreement
between the employers to obtain that coverage, and that coverage, as
specified in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 3700, has been in fact
obtained, and the coverage remains in effect for the duration of the
employment providing legally sufficient coverage to the employee or
employees who form the subject matter of the coverage. That agreement
shall not be made for the purpose of avoiding an employer's
appropriate experience rating as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 11730 of the Insurance Code.
Employers who have complied with this subdivision shall not be
subject to civil, criminal, or other penalties for failure to provide
workers' compensation coverage or tort liability in the event of
employee injury, but may, in the absence of compliance, be subject to
all three.
3603. Payment of compensation in accordance with the order and
direction of the appeals board shall discharge the employer from all
claims therefor.
3604. It is not a defense to the State, any county, city, district
or institution thereof, or any public or quasi-public corporation,
that a person injured while rendering service for it was not lawfully
employed by reason of the violation of any civil service or other
law or regulation respecting the hiring of employees.
3605. The compensation due an injured minor may be paid to him
until his parent or guardian gives the employer or the latter's
compensation insurance carrier written notice that he claims such
compensation.
Compensation paid to such injured minor prior to receipt of such
written notice is in full release of the employer and insurance
carrier for the amount so paid. The minor can not disaffirm such
payment upon appointment of a guardian or coming of age.
3600. (a) Liability for the compensation provided by this division,
in lieu of any other liability whatsoever to any person except as
otherwise specifically provided in Sections 3602, 3706, and 4558,
shall, without regard to negligence, exist against an employer for
any injury sustained by his or her employees arising out of and in
the course of the employment and for the death of any employee if the
injury proximately causes death, in those cases where the following
conditions of compensation concur:
(1) Where, at the time of the injury, both the employer and the
employee are subject to the compensation provisions of this division.
(2) Where, at the time of the injury, the employee is performing
service growing out of and incidental to his or her employment and is
acting within the course of his or her employment.
(3) Where the injury is proximately caused by the employment,
either with or without negligence.
(4) Where the injury is not caused by the intoxication, by alcohol
or the unlawful use of a controlled substance, of the injured
employee. As used in this paragraph, "controlled substance" shall
have the same meaning as prescribed in Section 11007 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(5) Where the injury is not intentionally self-inflicted.
(6) Where the employee has not willfully and deliberately caused
his or her own death.
(7) Where the injury does not arise out of an altercation in which
the injured employee is the initial physical aggressor.
(8) Where the injury is not caused by the commission of a felony,
or a crime which is punishable as specified in subdivision (b) of
Section 17 of the Penal Code, by the injured employee, for which he
or she has been convicted.
(9) Where the injury does not arise out of voluntary participation
in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity not
constituting part of the employee's work-related duties, except where
these activities are a reasonable expectancy of, or are expressly or
impliedly required by, the employment. The administrative director
shall promulgate reasonable rules and regulations requiring employers
to post and keep posted in a conspicuous place or places a notice
advising employees of the provisions of this subdivision. Failure of
the employer to post the notice shall not constitute an expression of
intent to waive the provisions of this subdivision.
(10) Except for psychiatric injuries governed by subdivision (e)
of Section 3208.3, where the claim for compensation is filed after
notice of termination or layoff, including voluntary layoff, and the
claim is for an injury occurring prior to the time of notice of
termination or layoff, no compensation shall be paid unless the
employee demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that one or
more of the following conditions apply:
(A) The employer has notice of the injury, as provided under
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5400), prior to the notice of
termination or layoff.
(B) The employee's medical records, existing prior to the notice
of termination or layoff, contain evidence of the injury.
(C) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5411, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff, but
prior to the effective date of the termination or layoff.
(D) The date of injury, as specified in Section 5412, is
subsequent to the date of the notice of termination or layoff.
For purposes of this paragraph, an employee provided notice
pursuant to Sections 44948.5, 44949, 44951, 44955, 72411, 87740, and
87743 of the Education Code shall be considered to have been provided
a notice of termination or layoff only upon a district's final
decision not to reemploy that person.
A notice of termination or layoff that is not followed within 60
days by that termination or layoff shall not be subject to the
provisions of this paragraph, and this paragraph shall not apply
until receipt of a later notice of termination or layoff. The
issuance of frequent notices of termination or layoff to an employee
shall be considered a bad faith personnel action and shall make this
paragraph inapplicable to the employee.
(b) Where an employee, or his or her dependents, receives the
compensation provided by this division and secures a judgment for, or
settlement of, civil damages pursuant to those specific exemptions
to the employee's exclusive remedy set forth in subdivision (b) of
Section 3602 and Section 4558, the compensation paid under this
division shall be credited against the judgment or settlement, and
the employer shall be relieved from the obligation to pay further
compensation to, or on behalf of, the employee or his or her
dependents up to the net amount of the judgment or settlement
received by the employee or his or her heirs, or that portion of the
judgment as has been satisfied.
(c) For purposes of determining whether to grant or deny a workers'
compensation claim, if an employee is injured or killed by a third
party in the course of the employee's employment, no personal
relationship or personal connection shall be deemed to exist between
the employee and the third party based only on a determination that
the third party injured or killed the employee solely because of the
third party's personal beliefs relating to his or her perception of
the employee's race, religious creed, color, national origin, age,
gender, disability, sex, or sexual orientation.
3600.1. (a) Whenever any firefighter of the state, as defined in
Section 19886 of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is
disabled from performing his or her duties as a firefighter by reason
of his or her proceeding to or engaging in a fire-suppression or
rescue operation, or the protection or preservation of life or
property, anywhere in this state, including the jurisdiction in which
he or she is employed, but is not at the time acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer, he or she or his or her
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his or her
employer all of the same benefits of this division that he, she, or
they would have received had that firefighter been acting under the
immediate direction of his or her employer. Any injury, disability,
or death incurred under the circumstances described in this section
shall be deemed to have arisen out of, and been sustained in, the
course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation and all
other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to do either of the
following:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who, at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability, is acting for
compensation from one other than the state.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by the state where by departmental regulation, whether now
in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, the activity giving
rise to the injury, disability, or death is expressly prohibited.
(c) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the
provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Section 3517.5 of the Government Code, the memorandum of
understanding shall be controlling without further legislative
action, except that if the provisions of a memorandum of
understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions shall
not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act.
3600.2. (a) Whenever any peace officer, as defined in Section 50920
of the Government Code, is injured, dies, or is disabled from
performing his duties as a peace officer by reason of engaging in the
apprehension or attempted apprehension of law violators or suspected
law violators, or protection or preservation of life or property, or
the preservation of the peace anywhere in this state, including the
local jurisdiction in which he is employed, but is not at the time
acting under the immediate direction of his employer, he or his
dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his employer all
of the same benefits, including the benefits of this division, which
he or they would have received had that peace officer been acting
under the immediate direction of his employer. Any injury,
disability, or death incurred under the circumstances described in
this section shall be deemed to have arisen out of and been sustained
in the course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation
and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer who
at the time of his injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
judicial district, or town of his primary employment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a peace officer
employed by a city, county, city and county, judicial district, or
town which by charter, ordinance, or departmental regulation, whether
now in force or hereafter enacted or promulgated, expressly
prohibits the activity giving rise to the injury, disability, or
death.
(3) Enlarge or extend the authority of any peace officer to make
an arrest; provided, however, that illegality of the arrest shall not
affect the extension of benefits by reason of this act if the peace
officer reasonably believed that the arrest was not illegal.
3600.3. (a) For the purposes of Section 3600, an off-duty peace
officer, as defined in subdivision (b), who is performing, within the
jurisdiction of his or her employing agency, a service he or she
would, in the course of his or her employment, have been required to
perform if he or she were on duty, is performing a service growing
out of and incidental to his or her employment and is acting within
the course of his or her employment if, as a condition of his or her
employment, he or she is required to be on call within the
jurisdiction during off-duty hours.
(b) As used in subdivision (a), "peace officer" means those
employees of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection named as
peace officers for purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 830.37 of
the Penal Code.
(c) This section does not apply to any off-duty peace officer
while he or she is engaged, either as an employee or as an
independent contractor, in any capacity other than as a peace
officer.
3600.4. (a) Whenever any firefighter of a city, county, city and
county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or
political subdivision, or any firefighter employed by a private
entity, is injured, dies, or is disabled from performing his or her
duties as a firefighter by reason of his or her proceeding to or
engaging in a fire suppression or rescue operation, or the protection
or preservation of life or property, anywhere in this state,
including the local jurisdiction in which he or she is employed, but
is not at the time acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer, he or she or his or her dependents, as the case may be,
shall be accorded by his or her employer all of the same benefits of
this division which he or she or they would have received had that
firefighter been acting under the immediate direction of his or her
employer. Any injury, disability, or death incurred under the
circumstances described in this section shall be deemed to have
arisen out of and been sustained in the course of employment for
purposes of workers' compensation and all other benefits.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to:
(1) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter who at
the time of his or her injury, death, or disability is acting for
compensation from one other than the city, county, city and county,
district, or other public or municipal corporation or political
subdivision, or private entity, of his or her primary employment or
enrollment.
(2) Require the extension of any benefits to a firefighter
employed by a city, county, city and county, district, or other
public or municipal corporation or political subdivision, or private
entity, which by charter, ordinance, departmental regulation, or
private employer policy, whether now in force or hereafter enacted or
promulgated, expressly prohibits the activity giving rise to the
injury, disability, or death. However, this paragraph shall not apply
to relieve the employer from liability for benefits for any injury,
disability, or death of a firefighter when the firefighter is acting
pursuant to Section 1799.107 of the Health and Safety Code.
3600.5. (a) If an employee who has been hired or is regularly
employed in the state receives personal injury by accident arising
out of and in the course of such employment outside of this state,
he, or his dependents, in the case of his death, shall be entitled to
compensation according to the law of this state.
(b) Any employee who has been hired outside of this state and his
employer shall be exempted from the provisions of this division while
such employee is temporarily within this state doing work for his
employer if such employer has furnished workmen's compensation
insurance coverage under the workmen's compensation insurance or
similar laws of a state other than California, so as to cover such
employee's employment while in this state; provided, the
extraterritorial provisions of this division are recognized in such
other state and provided employers and employees who are covered in
this state are likewise exempted from the application of the workmen'
s compensation insurance or similar laws of such other state. The
benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Insurance Act or similar
laws of such other state, or other remedies under such act or such
laws, shall be the exclusive remedy against such employer for any
injury, whether resulting in death or not, received by such employee
while working for such employer in this state.
A certificate from the duly authorized officer of the appeals
board or similar department of another state certifying that the
employer of such other state is insured therein and has provided
extraterritorial coverage insuring his employees while working within
this state shall be prima facie evidence that such employer carries
such workmen's compensation insurance.
3600.6. Disaster service workers registered by a disaster council
while performing services under the general direction of the disaster
council shall be entitled to all of the same benefits of this
division as any other injured employee, except as provided by Chapter
10 (commencing with Section 4351) of Part 1. For purposes of this
section, an unregistered person impressed into performing service as
a disaster service worker during a state of war emergency, a state of
emergency, or a local emergency by a person having authority to
command the aid of citizens in the execution of his or her duties
shall also be deemed a disaster service worker and shall be entitled
to the same benefits of this division as any other disaster service
worker.
3600.8. (a) No employee who voluntarily participates in an
alternative commute program that is sponsored or mandated by a
governmental entity shall be considered to be acting within the
course of his or her employment while utilizing that program to
travel to or from his or her place of employment, unless he or she is
paid a regular wage or salary in compensation for those periods of
travel. An employee who is injured while acting outside the course of
his or her employment, or his or her dependents in the event of the
employee's death, shall not be barred from bringing an action at law
for damages against his or her employer as a result of this section.
(b) Any alternative commute program provided, sponsored, or
subsidized by an employee's employer in order to comply with any trip
reduction mandates of an air quality management district or local
government shall be considered a program mandated by a governmental
entity. An employer's reimbursement of employee expenses or
subsidization of costs related to an alternative commute program
shall not be considered payment of a wage or salary in compensation
for the period of travel. If an employer's salary is not based on the
hours the employee works, payment of his or her salary shall not be
considered to be in compensation for the period of travel unless
there is a specific written agreement between the employer and the
employee to that effect. If an employer elects to provide workers'
compensation coverage for those employees who are passengers in a
vehicle owned and operated by the employer or an agent thereof, those
employees shall be considered to be within the course of their
employment, provided the employer notifies employees in writing prior
to participation of the employee or coverage becoming effective.
(c) As used in this section, "governmental entity" means a
regional air district, air quality management district, congestion
management agency, or other local jurisdiction having authority to
enact air pollution or congestion management controls or impose them
upon entities within its jurisdiction.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, vanpool programs
may continue to provide workers' compensation benefits to employees
who participate in an alternative commute program by riding in a
vanpool, in the case in which the vanpool vehicle is owned or
registered to the employer.
(e) Employees of the state who participate in an alternative
commute program, while riding in a vanpool vehicle that is registered
to or owned by the state, shall be deemed to be within the course
and scope of employment for workers' compensation purposes only.
3601. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation, pursuant to the
provisions of this division is, except as specifically provided in
this section, the exclusive remedy for injury or death of an employee
against any other employee of the employer acting within the scope
of his or her employment, except that an employee, or his or her
dependents in the event of his or her death, shall, in addition to
the right to compensation against the employer, have a right to bring
an action at law for damages against the other employee, as if this
division did not apply, in either of the following cases:
(1) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the willful
and unprovoked physical act of aggression of the other employee.
(2) When the injury or death is proximately caused by the
intoxication of the other employee.
(b) In no event, either by legal action or by agreement whether
entered into by the other employee or on his or her behalf, shall the
employer be held liable, directly or indirectly, for damages awarded
against, or for a liability incurred by the other employee under
paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a).
(c) No employee shall be held liable, directly or indirectly, to
his or her employer, for injury or death of a coemployee except where
the injured employee or his or her dependents obtain a recovery
under subdivision (a).
3602. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover such compensation is, except as
specifically provided in this section and Sections 3706 and 4558, the
sole and exclusive remedy of the employee or his or her dependents
against the employer, and the fact that either the employee or the
employer also occupied another or dual capacity prior to, or at the
time of, the employee's industrial injury shall not permit the
employee or his or her dependents to bring an action at law for
damages against the employer.
(b) An employee, or his or her dependents in the event of his or
her death, may bring an action at law for damages against the
employer, as if this division did not apply, in the following
instances:
(1) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a willful physical assault by the employer.
(2) Where the employee's injury is aggravated by the employer's
fraudulent concealment of the existence of the injury and its
connection with the employment, in which case the employer's
liability shall be limited to those damages proximately caused by the
aggravation. The burden of proof respecting apportionment of damages
between the injury and any subsequent aggravation thereof is upon
the employer.
(3) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a defective product manufactured by the employer and sold, leased, or
otherwise transferred for valuable consideration to an independent
third person, and that product is thereafter provided for the
employee's use by a third person.
(c) In all cases where the conditions of compensation set forth in
Section 3600 do not concur, the liability of the employer shall be
the same as if this division had not been enacted.
(d) For the purposes of this division, including Sections 3700 and
3706, an employer may secure the payment of compensation on
employees provided to it by agreement by another employer by entering
into a valid and enforceable agreement with that other employer
under which the other employer agrees to obtain, and has, in fact,
obtained workers' compensation coverage for those employees. In those
cases, both employers shall be considered to have secured the
payment of compensation within the meaning of this section and
Sections 3700 and 3706 if there is a valid and enforceable agreement
between the employers to obtain that coverage, and that coverage, as
specified in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 3700, has been in fact
obtained, and the coverage remains in effect for the duration of the
employment providing legally sufficient coverage to the employee or
employees who form the subject matter of the coverage. That agreement
shall not be made for the purpose of avoiding an employer's
appropriate experience rating as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 11730 of the Insurance Code.
Employers who have complied with this subdivision shall not be
subject to civil, criminal, or other penalties for failure to provide
workers' compensation coverage or tort liability in the event of
employee injury, but may, in the absence of compliance, be subject to
all three.
3603. Payment of compensation in accordance with the order and
direction of the appeals board shall discharge the employer from all
claims therefor.
3604. It is not a defense to the State, any county, city, district
or institution thereof, or any public or quasi-public corporation,
that a person injured while rendering service for it was not lawfully
employed by reason of the violation of any civil service or other
law or regulation respecting the hiring of employees.
3605. The compensation due an injured minor may be paid to him
until his parent or guardian gives the employer or the latter's
compensation insurance carrier written notice that he claims such
compensation.
Compensation paid to such injured minor prior to receipt of such
written notice is in full release of the employer and insurance
carrier for the amount so paid. The minor can not disaffirm such
payment upon appointment of a guardian or coming of age.
