COVID-19 UPDATE – CALFORNIA STAY AT HOME EXECUTIVE ORDER
By Kenton Koszdin on March 23, 2020 | In Client Communication
After the office closed Friday, March 20, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay at home order. You can read the order here.
My physical office is closed and we are all working remotely.Given the realities of this extreme situation, I need to make you aware of the following changes in how the office will operate. Please communicate with me and my staff as much as possible using email.Our email addresses are as follows: General Delivery/Medical Records
If your email has recently changed or you are not sure if I have your correct email, please send an email and type “email address” in the title. You do not have to type anything else. This way, I will be guaranteed of having your correct email. If I send you an email and it gets bounced back, I will send you a regular letter asking for your correct email address. You can send faxes to 818-647-6362. We have e-fax capability. If you must call, you will have to allow the phone to ring a little longer so that you will be connected to our answering service. They will send us an email and we will try to get back to you. My staff and I will be returning your calls using our cell phones from home. PLEASE ACCEPT CALLS FROM UNBLOCKED NUMBERS – I want our cell phone numbers to remain private. We may communicate with you by text. If your message calls for a brief answer, I will reply to you by email instead of phone. There may be some delays in responding to your emails and calls given that current situation. It appears that the Social Security Office of Hearings Operations will continue to have hearings. These hearings will be conducted by phone. You will be at your home, I will be at my home, and the Administrative Law Judge will call us for a conference call. The status of Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board operations is less clear. When a similar order was issued in the Bay Area, WCAB offices closed completely. In Southern California, only expedited hearings were being held in person while all other matters were either being continued or being held using a phone service called Court Call. We will keep you updated.
Treating doctors may conduct their appointments using the telephone. In order to continue to receive temporary disability benefits, you must have a report of disability status at least once every 45 days. If you can’t attend the appointment due to the doctor or clinic canceling or some other reason related to the stay at home order, please send me an email immediately and we will inform the claims adjuster and defense attorney. If you have medical records or other documents to drop off at the office, you can slide them through the mail slot of my front door. If possible, it is much better to scan what you have into PDF format and email it to me I will be coming to the office daily only for the limited purpose of opening mail, scanning, and mailing out notices and letters. These are extraordinary times and my office is determined to adapt to this change to continue serving our clients. If you know anyone who is age 50 and older who has a chronic health condition that makes it difficult for them to work at the jobs they did in the past, please refer them to my office. They will likely qualify for social security disability/SSI. The reason for this is because when the economy was very good and unemployment low, employers were very willing to accommodate people with disabilities. That is no longer going to be true in the current high unemployment economy. We are here to help you, your family, and friends in this time of need. Please be patient as we adapt to these new realities. |
| Sincerely yours,
Kenton Koszdin |
