Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP. (SBA) is a specialized law practice focusing exclusively on helping employers manage their employees in an increasingly regulated and risky environment. The firm assists clients in two critical areas: controlling workers’ compensation claims and preventing related labor/employment law disability discrimination charges. The changing legal landscape has put increasingly complex requirements on public and private sector employers. To meet the current need, Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP. has developed a unique package of training programs, publications and services aimed at creating the necessary awareness and compliance commitment.

On the workers’ compensation front, Stuart Baron has been in the vanguard of reform since 1988. He and his staff have over 18 years of direct experience in all aspects of workers compensation. These include underwriting, class code determination, ex-mod calculation, related risk management, safety issues and micro-managing claims. From 1995 through 2006, SBA also acted in the capacity of a Third Party Administrator for self-insured employers' workers' compensation claims. Mr. Baron's affiliated consulting company, Workers' Compensation Claims Control (WCCC), has provided claims' management services to hundreds of employers thereby ensuring that each claim is handled in a timely and expeditious manner by either the carrier or TPA.

Patricia S. Eyres is the firm’s labor and employment law expert. She was a litigator for over 18 years, defending organizations and individual managers in trials involving a variety of employment law charges. She then turned to proactive legal management and counseling. As President of her related company, Litigation Management & Training Services, she has trained more than 12,000 individual managers and supervisors on how to recognize risks, prevent lawsuits, and maintain defensible documentation. Her writing and training covers such diverse topics as harassment, retaliation and email evidence.

The Firm's Practice
Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP. focuses exclusively on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The changing legal landscape has put increasingly complex requirements on public and private sector employers. In 2001, FEHA broadened the definition of “disability” — far beyond the federal law, imposing stricter responsibilities to consider reasonable accommodations. FEHA requires a very specific “interactive process” for communicating with an employee when considering a “reasonable accommodation.” ADA cases in the Ninth Circuit (governing western states) and other Federal Courts of Appeal have followed suit.

Amendments to workers' compensation law replaced Vocational Rehabilitation with a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit Voucher. Now, your company has only 10 days to tell an injured worker he's eligible for a voucher and, then, 30 days to find modified work. As a result, many more injured workers must be evaluated for modified duty — and must be provided with the “interactive process” under FEHA.