Declarations – West

Employee Relief

“An employer must relieve the employee of all duty for the designated period, but need not ensure that the employee does no work.”

—Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote for a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling late last month in a decision that allows part of a class-action lawsuit over employee breaks against Brinker International Inc. to proceed. The court ruled employers only have to provide meal periods to workers, not make sure employees actually take them.

State Fund Discipline

“The competitive market continues to underprice business. We are maintaining our pricing discipline, and as a result we tend to lose business when others underprice it.”

—State Fund CFO Dan Sevilla, explaining California’s largest workers’ compensation insurer’s year-over-year drop in premiums from 2010 to 2011.

Kriedler Commish

“Me serving so long is particularly good for an insurance commissioner, who have a fairly short lifespan on average. At the end of this term I will have 12 years, and that’s two more than any insurance commissioner in the country.”

—Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler following his announcement he’s seeking a fourth term in office.

J.D. Power

“Repair times have also increased slightly from the last quarter. This, in addition to customers waiting longer for a more convenient time, or the weekend, to bring their vehicle to the repair shop, has contributed to the overall lower satisfaction scores.”

—Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power and Associates, which released its 2012 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study – Wave 2 showing overall customer satisfaction for auto claims has dropped the lowest level in three quarters.