Keep in mind that if a neighbor, friend, or acquaintance asks you to help out around his or her home and is willing to pay you for it, you a most likely not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if you become injured.

According to Labor Code Section 3352 you are exempt from Workers’ Compensation Benefits if you are employed for fewer than 52 hours or earn less than $100 within 90 days of the calendar year while working in a home-related or personal services type job.

So the next time Mrs. Smith asks you to hang her Christmas Tree Lights for $50 and you fall off the ladder, look to your private insurance for coverage.

Last week a bill was passed that will increase the penalties owed by employers who fail to provide worker’s compensation benefits to injured workers. The increase will be from $1,000 to $1,500 and will take effect January 2011. The idea is to discourage employers from not providing benefits with the assumption they will pay a hefty penalty otherwise. All it needs is the governor’s signature.

When an applicant is incarcerated after suffering an injury prior to being sent to jail, what happens to any temporary disability (TD) and/or permanent disability (PD) benefits that the applicant is entitled to? Labor Code Section 3370 addresses the area of state penal or correctional inmates and the treatment of such benefits. Subdivision (a) paragraph (2) says that no inmate shall be entitled to TD indemnity benefits while incarcerated in state prison. Paragraph (3) tells us that no benefits are to be paid to an inmate while they are incarcerated and that the benefits shall commence upon release. It goes on to point out that if the person is released and begins to receive benefits and is subsequently reincarcerated in a city or county jail or state penal or correctional facility, those benefits will immediately cease and will not be paid for the duration of the reincarceration.

Subdivision (d) of Section 3370 says that the above paragraphs of subdivision (a) are applicable to inmates of state penal or correctional institutions who are otherwise entitled to workers’ compensation benefits based on an injury prior to their incarceration. However, if the inmate has dependents, the TD and/or PD that the inmate would be entitled to if not for being incarcerated is paid to them. If the inmate has no dependents, then the TD goes to the State Treasury to the credit of the Uninsured Employers Fund and any PD is held in trust for the inmate while he is incarcerated by the Department of Corrections.