ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Judges Should Know Better

California’s workers’ compensation system was once known for charging employers insurance premiums that were among the highest in the nation while giving injured workers benefits that were among the lowest. Last year, the Legislature instituted overdue reforms in the system.

But it will not help public confidence in the system to learn now that some workers’ compensation judges, three of them from Orange County, allegedly accepted free hotel rooms for themselves and free rooms and air fares to Hawaii for their spouses. That called into question the impartiality of those designated to decide disputes over how much an insurance company should pay an injured worker. The results turned up in a yearlong internal investigation of charges of corruption in the state Division of Workers’ Compensation, which also found most allegations, including those of bribes to judges, to be unfounded.

However, it is difficult to understand just what a state official was thinking of when he reported the evidence but said he would take no action to see whether criminal charges were warranted. Fortunately, political pressure last week changed the official’s mind.

The division’s administrative director, Casey L. Young, said the probe showed that the Orange County judges appeared to have “unwittingly” violated ethics rules. The three allegedly accepted free hotel rooms in Hawaii, where they ostensibly were attending a legal seminar, paid for by a doctor whose cases regularly wound up in their courts. Two Los Angeles judges may have broken state law by taking speaking fees from groups that appear before the courts, the investigation found. No one was identified.

Young’s initial response was merely to issue reminders of ethical standards to the judges and promise to recommend that regulations on taking travel expenses and hotel rooms be tightened. He also said he would hire an ethics “think tank” to help draft a more specific code of conduct. Those steps were insufficient and they drew deserved criticism.

State Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear), who helped author last year’s workers’ compensation reforms, warned Young that if he did not hand over the results of the investigation to prosecutors to review whether criminal charges would be brought, he, Leonard, would do so himself. Young got the message and days later passed the findings to the state attorney general’s office.

Judges should know better; free air fare and hotel rooms are not doled out because of concern for the public welfare. In this case, Young should have contacted prosecutors more quickly. Tighter ethical standards may help reform the workers’ compensation system, but only if judges get the message.