Shredding by the Book
By Robert Warne - January 9, 2003The Department of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is giving the green light to its district offices to start burning the books after they’ve matured beyond five years.
The decision was made because the Department of General Services’ State Records Center stopped accepting record transfers Sept. 20, 2002. The center has also continued to return files to DWC district offices that it held prior to Sept. 20.
This has resulted in a massive paper jam for the DWC, with district offices buried in a forest of files.
Citing the decision as an emergency response to space and safety issues, the DWC said that all the files would be destroyed in accordance with Board Rule 10758, which states:
"Following a period of five years after the filing of the Application, or other opening document, the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board may destroy, without microphotographic or other reproduction, the file in each case.
"A case file may be destroyed by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board after its contents, as stripped in accordance with Section 10755, have been reproduced in a manner permitted by law. The reproduction may be destroyed after a period of five years from the date of the filing of the Application or other opening document.
"The approval of the Department of Finance, as required by the provisions of Labor Code Section 135, will be obtained before action under this rule."
The DWC wants to work with the workers’ compensation community to develop a more ideal long term solution because it doesn’t see the situation with the State Record Center changing anytime soon with the state in the hole by $38 billion. | 
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