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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.Workers compensation reform regulations in California have slashed permanent disability benefits by 50%, according to a study.
"Permanent Disability Rating Schedule Recommendations," prepared by California's Commission on Health and Safety and Worker's Compensation, cites changes to a permanent disability rating schedule implemented in 2005 following reforms signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.
Those reforms called for determining permanent disability benefits by applying guidelines developed by the American Medical Assn. Legislators, however, left it to the state's Division of Workers' Compensation to revise the rating schedule.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, on Friday said in a statement that the report confirms that "injured workers got the short end of the stick when workers compensation was reformed."
However, employers on Friday criticized the study, with the Sacramento, Calif.-based California Manufacturers & Technology Assn. saying it is based on too small a sample of claims and that it failed to evaluate complex claims involving litigation. The CMTA also noted that the study was ordered by Democratic leaders.
The CHSWC study looked at 3,500 recent claims.