Bill Text: CA AB2378 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Workers' compensation: temporary disability payments.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2014-09-29 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2378 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB2378-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2378 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 21, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ian Calderon, Dababneh, Frazier,
Gonzalez, V. Manuel Pérez, and Wieckowski)
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to amend Section 4656 of the Labor Code, relating to
workers' compensation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2378, Perea. Workers' compensation: temporary disability
payments.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system,
administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of
Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries arising
out of and in the course of his or her employment. Existing law
requires that aggregate disability payments for a single injury
occurring on or after certain dates be limited, as provided.
Existing law provides that whenever any member of the Department
of Justice falling within the state peace officer/firefighter class
is disabled by injury arising out of and in the course of his or her
duties, he or she shall become entitled, regardless of his or her
period of service with the Department of Justice to a leave of
absence while so disabled without loss of salary, in lieu of
disability payments under this chapter, for a period not exceeding
one year. Existing law also provides that certain peace officers,
firefighters, and other specified state and local public employees
are entitled to a leave of absence without loss of salary while
disabled by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of
employment.
This bill would provide that the above-specified leaves of absence
without loss of salary are payable in addition to the maximum
aggregate disability payments for a single injury that is applicable
to all workers. The bill would make these provisions applicable to
all claims, regardless of the date of injury. The bill would also
make related findings and declarations.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Under current law, the courts are compelled to liberally
construe the workers' compensation statutes with the purpose of
extending related benefits for the protection of workers injured in
the course of their employment, so long as the intent of the
Legislature, as expressed in a particular statute, is not supplanted.
(b) With the enactment of Assembly Bill 338 of the 2007-08 Regular
Session (AB 338), the Legislature expressly intended to ameliorate
what was then the unintended consequence of unfairly penalizing an
injured employee who returned to work that resulted from the two-year
limit that was placed on aggregate disability payments for certain
single injuries causing temporary disability.
(c) As introduced, the clearly stated purpose of AB 338 was to
alleviate the penalty to injured workers pursuant to Section 4656 of
the Labor Code by increasing the maximum number of weeks of temporary
disability payments for which an injured worker may be eligible,
while also extending the time period of eligibility.
(d) In enacting AB 338, the Legislature adopted a consensus
solution that more closely upholds the purpose of the workers'
compensation system, which, by design, encourages and supports
injured workers in their efforts to return to work.
(e) Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and Article 7
(commencing with Section 4850) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4
of the Labor Code, both of which govern industrially injured
firefighters and other local public safety officers, provide for a
leave of absence for up to one year without a loss of salary in lieu
of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance payments
while the public safety officer or firefighter is recovering from a
disability arising out of and in the course of his or her duties.
(f) The Legislature, in enacting AB 338, did not intend to limit
or reduce the amount of payments made to a public safety officer or
firefighter during his or her period of temporary disability.
(g) In January 2013, California's Court of Appeal, First District,
Division 4, issued a ruling in County of Alameda v. Workers'
Compensation Appeals Board (Knittel) (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 278,
which linked the limitations on temporary disability indemnity
payments established by Section 4656 of the Labor Code and the
payments provided under Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and
Article 7 (commencing with Section 4850) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of
Division 4 of the Labor Code.
(h) Knittel starkly contradicts a longstanding, prevailing
authority on this issue, including several Workers' Compensation
Appeals Board decisions, that determined that the leave of absence
afforded under Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and Article 7
(commencing with Section 4850) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4
of the Labor Code is not a temporary disability indemnity benefit,
and, therefore does not count against an industrially injured public
safety officer's allowable number of compensable weeks of temporary
disability indemnity payments.
(i) In rendering Knittel, the court attributed this new
interpretation aggregating both the temporary disability indemnity
payments and the salary in lieu payments to public safety officers
(Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and Article 7 (commencing
with Section 4850) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Labor
Code) to the subtleties of the language changes found in AB 338.
(j) This interpretation has also disenfranchised and potentially
created a disability bias against the small number of public safety
officers and firefighters who suffer severe industrial injuries as a
matter of course and rely upon the in lieu of salary payments in
addition to the temporary disability indemnity afforded to all
workers under the California system.
(k) It is imperative that the Legislature abrogate the holding in
Knittel and restore the Legislature's intent to limit aggregate
temporary disability indemnity payments under Section 4656 of the
Labor Code for a single injury causing temporary disability without
disturbing the in-lieu payments afforded under Article 6 (commencing
with Section 4800) and Article 7 (commencing with Section 4850) of
Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Labor Code.
SEC. 2. Section 4656 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
4656. (a) Aggregate disability payments for a single injury
occurring prior to January 1, 1979, causing temporary disability
shall not extend for more than 240 compensable weeks within a period
of five years from the date of the injury.
(b) Aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on
or after January 1, 1979, and prior to April 19, 2004, causing
temporary partial disability shall not extend for more than 240
compensable weeks within a period of five years from the date of the
injury.
(c) (1) Aggregate disability payments for a single injury
occurring on or after April 19, 2004, causing temporary disability
shall not extend for more than 104 compensable weeks within a period
of two years from the date of commencement of temporary disability
payment.
(2) Aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on
or after January 1, 2008, causing temporary disability shall not
extend for more than 104 compensable weeks within a period of five
years from the date of injury.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), for an employee who
suffers from the following injuries or conditions, aggregate
disability payments for a single injury occurring on or after April
19, 2004, causing temporary disability shall not extend for more than
240 compensable weeks within a period of five years from the date of
the injury:
(A) Acute and chronic hepatitis B.
(B) Acute and chronic hepatitis C.
(C) Amputations.
(D) Severe burns.
(E) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
(F) High-velocity eye injuries.
(G) Chemical burns to the eyes.
(H) Pulmonary fibrosis.
(I) Chronic lung disease.
(d) (1) The employee benefits specified in Article 6 (commencing
with Section 4800) and Article 7 (commencing with Section 4850), are
payable in addition to the maximum aggregate disability payments
established in this section. This subdivision applies to all claims,
regardless of the date of injury.
(2) In enacting this subdivision, it is the intent of the
Legislature to abrogate the holding in County of Alameda v. Workers'
Compensation Appeals Board (Knittel) (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 278.
