This week, the Senate approved
SB 213 (Cortese) to move off the Senate floor and over to the
Assembly with a final vote of 21 senators, narrowly allowing its
move into the Assembly. At its core, this bill will impose
significant financial burdens on employers in the health care
industry who are already struggling under the effects of labor
shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic. For California
Counties, this means costs to taxpayers.
Unlike most historical California legislation around workers’
compensation presumptions, SB 213 applies to both public and
private employers. As such, it has been met with significant
opposition through its time in the Senate based upon its lack of
factual evidence to support the need.
This legislation creates a legal workers’ compensation
presumption for all acute care hospital employees that provide
direct patient care. Presumption expansions proposed in the
legislation include blood-borne infectious disease, tuberculosis,
meningitis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA),
cancer, musculoskeletal injury, post-traumatic stress disorder,
or respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, chronic pulmonary
disease, and asthma. Equally as important, the bill extends these
presumptions for up to 10 years after employment depending on the
type of injury.
Currently, injuries occurring within the course and scope of
employment are already covered by workers’ compensation
insurance, regardless of fault. By creating a legal presumption,
establishing causation for specific injuries or illnesses would
no longer be needed. Instead, these injuries and illnesses
are presumed under the law to be work-related.
Beyond being costly to employers and nearly impossible to prove a
negative, this legislation aims to further erode the current
workers’ compensation system in California. With no factual
evidence that this type of presumption is needed, CSAC opposes
this legislation and will continue to advocate on behalf of
California Counties in opposing unnecessary, unproven, and costly
legislation.
