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| | Dodgers And Giants On The Same Team In California When It Comes To Workers' Comp Bill
By Lonce LaMon - July 9, 2013
Just this past weekend, the Dodgers beat the Giants in two out of three games. And while they love their decades long rivalry, they are both now on the same side in supporting the bill to change the state of California's workers' compensation law when it comes to pro athletes.
The bill will prevent out-of-state pro athletes from filing workers' compensation claims in California. Some find it too drastic in that it will confine pro-athletes to filing their claims only with their last team employer on cumulative trauma cases (which so many claims are in professional sports). That wipes out the right--even retroactively-- to file against a prior California team employer.
The bill’s supporters say it will save the state millions of dollars by not allowing out-of-state athletes to claim workers' compensation benefits for injuries received while playing in California. It confines them to filing in one state and not "double dipping".
Currently, athletes on teams from other states can claim California’s workers comp benefits as well as benefits in the states where their teams are based. The state of California's loophole has allowed millions of dollars in compensation to be paid to out-of-state professional athletes who have played little in California--often never playing on a California team-- but have reaped a lot of benefit from the California workers' compensation system.
But opponents say the measure lets wealthy team owners sidestep liability to players who suffer long-term injuries.
“The owners are trying to get out ahead of the long-term injuries that athletes are incurring such as concussions, internal organ injuries, and the like,” says Randy Perry with the coalition of labor groups opposing the bill. The bill (AB 1309) has already cleared the Assembly back in May 2013, and will be heard in a Senate committee later this week.
But, what labor groups are not discussing is the fact that California is carrying a heavier burden in monetary numbers paid out to pro-athletes than the rest of the states when it comes to workers' compensation. California is one of only nine states in a fifty state nation that allows for compensation for cumulative trauma injuries.
It has been predicted that this bill may pass the CA Senate in some kind of compromised form.
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