Section 3602 Of Chapter 3. Conditions Of Compensation Liability From California Labor Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 3.
3602
. (a) Where the conditions of compensation set forth in Section
3600 concur, the right to recover compensation is, except as
specifically provided in this section and Sections 3706 and 4558, the
sole and exclusive remedy of the employee or his or her dependents
against the employer. The fact that either the employee or the
employer also occupied another or dual capacity prior to, or at the
time of, the employee's industrial injury shall not permit the
employee or his or her dependents to bring an action at law for
damages against the employer.
(b) An employee, or his or her dependents in the event of his or
her death, may bring an action at law for damages against the
employer, as if this division did not apply, in the following
instances:
(1) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a willful physical assault by the employer.
(2) Where the employee's injury is aggravated by the employer's
fraudulent concealment of the existence of the injury and its
connection with the employment, in which case the employer's
liability shall be limited to those damages proximately caused by the
aggravation. The burden of proof respecting apportionment of damages
between the injury and any subsequent aggravation thereof is upon
the employer.
(3) Where the employee's injury or death is proximately caused by
a defective product manufactured by the employer and sold, leased, or
otherwise transferred for valuable consideration to an independent
third person, and that product is thereafter provided for the
employee's use by a third person.
(c) In all cases where the conditions of compensation set forth in
Section 3600 do not concur, the liability of the employer shall be
the same as if this division had not been enacted.
(d) (1) For the purposes of this division, including Sections 3700
and 3706, an employer may secure the payment of compensation on
employees provided to it by agreement by another employer by entering
into a valid and enforceable agreement with that other employer
under which the other employer agrees to obtain, and has, in fact,
obtained workers' compensation coverage for those employees. In those
cases, both employers shall be considered to have secured the
payment of compensation within the meaning of this section and
Sections 3700 and 3706 if there is a valid and enforceable agreement
between the employers to obtain that coverage, and that coverage, as
specified in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 3700, has been in fact
obtained, and the coverage remains in effect for the duration of the
employment providing legally sufficient coverage to the employee or
employees who form the subject matter of the coverage. That agreement
shall not be made for the purpose of avoiding an employer's
appropriate experience rating as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 11730 of the Insurance Code.
(2) Employers who have complied with this subdivision shall not be
subject to civil, criminal, or other penalties for failure to
provide workers' compensation coverage or tort liability in the event
of employee injury, but may, in the absence of compliance, be
subject to all three.
(e) As provided in paragraph (12) of subdivision (f) of Section
1202.4 of the Penal Code, in cases where an employer is convicted of
a crime against an employee, a payment to the employee or the
employee's dependent that is paid by the employer's workers'
compensation insurance carrier shall not be used to offset the amount
of the restitution order unless the court finds that the defendant
substantially met the obligation to pay premiums for that insurance
coverage.