Insurers control the narrative around California’s workers’ compensation—and it’s costing the state’s employers more every year.
Annually, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) issues its State of the System report—a glossy slideshow of charts, graphs, and confident conclusions. And every year, state legislators, regulators, and policymakers accept it with baffling credulity.
We can’t say it loud enough: the WCIRB is 100% insurer-funded. It exists to serve the interests of its insurer members, including advancing narratives that justify higher premiums for employers.
While the WCIRB allows nominal input from employers and labor, it is overwhelmingly controlled by insurers—the very entities that profit when “official” analyses inflate California’s workers’ comp costs.
At daisyNews, we read the fine print of the WCIRB’s reports. Time and again, we find fundamental problems with the data and methods—problems that ultimately hit employers’ bottom lines and undermine injured workers’ care.
The WCIRB 2025 State of the System includes disclaimers that should raise alarms for every reader, including:
Even worse, some of the data are years old, with 2023 and 2024 data listed as “preliminary”.
In short, the WCRIB’s “data” are susceptible to distortion—and distorted data inevitably drive higher costs for California employers.
California law requires the state’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (CA DWC) to collect and report comprehensive claim data through the Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS)—a state-managed repository of data on every work-related injury.
WCIS was meant to provide transparent, verifiable insight into claims—and free stakeholders from relying exclusively on insurer-controlled data.
But for years, the CA DWC has failed to implement WCIS as required by Labor Code Section 138.6. The CA DWC openly declares WCIS reporting “voluntary.” No one knows how many claims administrators report to WCIS or whether the data they submit are complete.
Interestingly enough, §138.6 specifically directed the CA DWC to develop WCIS “in consultation with” the WCIRB. Unsurprisingly, the WCIRB continues to control California workers’ comp data—exactly what legislators sought to avoid.
California employers deserve better than insurer-fed narratives dressed up as “data.”
Employers deserve transparency, verification, and independent corroboration, not numbers filtered through an industry mouthpiece with every incentive to inflate costs.
It’s long past time for employers to demand accountability. Only then can legislators and regulators make policy based on facts rather than insurer spin.
As things stand, California workers’ comp is at the mercy of an entity credibly accused of “skewing” statistics to benefit its members at employers’ expense. The status quo is unacceptable. Demanding change is an imperative.
The images below disclose information critical to understanding the WCIRB’s questionable 2025 State of the System report.
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