California bill to expedite comp liability decisions advances
California employers would have less time to decide whether to accept liability for workers compensation claims and would face penalties of up to $100,000 for unreasonably denying certain claims by first responders, under legislation a Senate policy committee passed.
The Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement on Monday voted 4-1 to advance S.B. 1127, which proponents said would ensure fair administration of certain claims, particularly those filed by first responders. Opponents said the tighter time frame to determine liability wouldn’t work with existing statutory and regulatory requirements.
Employers currently have 90 days to deny liability before a claim is presumed to be compensable. S.B. 1127 would reduce that to 60 days for most injuries.
Employers would have only 30 days to deny claims from first responders for injuries that are presumed to be compensable, including hernias, heart trouble, pneumonia and tuberculosis, under terms of the bill.
The measure would create a new penalty for employers that unreasonably deny liability on first responder claims for presumptive injuries. The penalty would be five times the benefits that were unreasonably delayed and capped at $100,000. The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board would be charged with determining whether a denial was reasonable.
The bill also would allow first responders suffering from a cancer that’s presumed compensable to receive up to 240 weeks of temporary disability benefits without any additional constraints. Injured workers are currently limited to 104 weeks of temporary disability benefits within a five-year period.
S.B. 1127 now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which must pass the measure before the full upper chamber can vote on it.
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