Calif. Assembly Bans Workers’ Comp Cuts Due to Race, Sex

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California’s Assembly approved changes to the state’s safety net for injured workers that would prevent cuts to disability benefits based on race, sex or age.

The 44-22 party-line vote on AB1155 came over the objections of Republican lawmakers. They said it could lead to higher workers’ compensation costs that would hurt businesses still recovering from the recession.

Current law allows doctors to assess how much of an injury is the result of work and how much is from other causes, such as a previous injury.

Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Watsonville cited a case in which a disability award for a San Diego worker was cut in half because he was black, and those who reviewed his case said blacks were more susceptible to hypertension.

Alejo noted that protections against discrimination are common in state law. He said the bill would make it clear that any cut to disability awards would have to be justified by a pre-existing medical condition, not just “risk factors” or the likelihood of a condition, such as a greater genetic predisposition to certain diseases based on race or the fact that women tend to be more susceptible to osteoporosis than men.

Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, warned that age is a legitimate concern when it comes to assessing what contributed to a disabling on-the-job injury. Including it in the bill could put California back on a path to high workers’ compensation costs that would hurt businesses.

Alejo countered that in at least one case in San Francisco, a female worker who suffered a neck injury and carpal tunnel had her disability award reduced on the basis of her age.

Opponents argued in committee that there are safeguards already built into the system to prevent abuses and to flag discriminatory decisions, including at least one case cited by the authors. They warned the bill would make lawsuits more likely.

The Legislature approved similar bills in 2008 and 2010, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed them as unnecessary and a potential source of litigation.

Schwarzenegger made an overhaul of the workers’ compensation system one of his signature issues during his first term, winning approval of sweeping changes to control costs in the system in 2004. The changes led to an almost immediate reduction of more than 15 percent in workers’ comp rates paid by employers, but attorneys and unions argued that they weakened protections for injured workers and have been pushing to weaken or revise some of them ever since.

The bill was sent to the Senate.