By Gerald
The following from California in regards to adding more workers for presumptive status with more workers lobbying for presumptive status. These are the idiots we are expected to caste a vote for. Why don’t they simply provide presumptive status for every one rather than to continue to add workers or do as the State of Arizona is doing and enact legislation forcing employers to prove that the injury did not arise out of and occur in the course of employment. In reality, because the benefit of the doubt always goes to the worker, workers have always had presumptive status.
There are more workers injured or killed in the construction industry than there is for firefighters, policeman, paramedics and now nurses. With the addition of farm workers, there are more farm workers killed or injured due to trauma and occupational diseases.
One of the biggest source of worker compensation today is paying for exposure to asbestos. When a law is changed to provide special treatment to any occupational group, that is discrimination.
Bills would widen presumption protections to nurses, fire personnel
Angela ChildersFebruary 26, 2019 REPRINTS
RegulationWorkers Comp CoverageWorkplace Safety
Several workers compensation bills read for the first time in the California legislature on Monday would expand presumptive illness and injury protections to more workers and protect employees from discrimination in disability determinations.
S.B. 567, introduced by Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would extend the injury and illness presumption currently provided to first responders in the state to include registered nurses who provide direct patient care in an acute care setting.
The legislation would create a rebuttable presumption that injuries including infectious diseases, cancer, musculoskeletal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and respiratory diseases developed or manifested in registered nurses arose in or out of the course their employment. The bill would also extend those presumptions after the termination of employment, allotting three months of potential compensability for each full year of employment.
“Worker’s compensation presumptions exist for first responders because they are inevitably exposed to dozens of potential illnesses as a condition of their work; many of which lead to health issues such as infectious diseases, respiratory illnesses and cancer,” Sen. Caballero said in a statement. “Current professions that have these protections are heavily male-dominated fields, including firefighters and police officers. My bill … recognizes health care workers such as nurses, are first responders as well, and face many of these same health risks. They should be given the same worker’s compensation protections as their male counterparts.”
In the Assembly, A.B. 1400 also proposes to modify the state’s current presumption laws. The bill, sponsored by Assembly member Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, would change the language of the state’s current first responder presumption laws to replace “active firefighting members” with “fire service personnel” who have exposure to active fires or health hazards resulting from firefighting operations.
Also read in the Senate was S.B. 731, sponsored Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, which modifies existing comp law to include language prohibiting the determination of an individual’s percentage of permanent disability to be based on or influenced by their race, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation or genetic characteristics.
