Amended in Senate September 4, 2015

Amended in Senate June 1, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 6, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 438

Introduced by Assembly Member Chiu

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alejo and Gonzalez)

February 23, 2015

An act to amend Section 124 of the Labor Code, relating to state government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 438, as amended, Chiu. State government: workers’ compensation: begin delete bilingual services. end delete begin insert compensation. end insert

begin delete

Existing law, the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, requires every state agency, as defined, to provide information regarding public services in a non-English language if a substantial number of the public contacted by the agency are non-English speaking.

end delete

Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation begin delete system end delete begin insert system, administered by the Administrative Director of Workers’ Compensation, end insert to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law establishes, in the Department of Industrial Relations, a Division of Workers’ Compensation to administer those provisions. In administering and enforcing those provisions, existing law requires the division to protect the interests of injured workers and requires all forms and notices to be given to employees by the division to be in English and Spanish.

begin delete

This bill would make the provisions of the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act applicable to the Department of Industrial Relations and Division of Workers’ Compensation when providing those forms and notices.

end delete begin insert

This bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Workers’ Compensation to make specified forms, notices, and fact sheets available in Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, and Vietnamese. The bill would also require the Administrative Director to make recommendations regarding any other documents that should be translated into languages other than English, as specified, and require the department and the division to submit the recommendations and any translated documents to the Legislature, as specified.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 124 of the end insert begin insert Labor Code end insert begin insert is amended to
read: end insert

124.  

(a) In administering and enforcing this division and
Division 4 (commencing with Section 3200), the division shall
protect the interests of injured workers who are entitled to the
timely provision of compensation.

(b) Forms and notices required to be given to employees by the
division shall be in English and Spanish.

begin insert

(c) In addition to the requirement in subdivision (b), no later
than January 1, 2018, the department and the division shall make
at least the following forms, notices, and materials available in
Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese:

end insert begin insert

(1) The workers’ compensation claim form required pursuant
to Section 5401.

end insert begin insert

(2) The application for the Return-to-Work Supplement Program
authorized pursuant to Section 139.48.

end insert begin insert

(3) Supplemental Job Displacement Non-Transferable Voucher.

end insert begin insert

(4) Division of Workers’ Compensation fact sheets distributed
to injured workers, including, but not limited to, those addressing
the following topics:

end insert begin insert

(A) Temporary disability.

end insert begin insert

(B) Permanent disability.

end insert begin insert

(C) Qualified medical evaluators.

end insert begin insert

(D) Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund.

end insert begin insert

(E) Utilization review.

end insert begin insert

(F) Basic facts on workers’ compensation.

end insert begin insert

(G) Glossary of terms in workers’ compensation.

end insert begin insert

(d) (1) Commencing January 1, 2018, the Administrative
Director shall annually review the forms, notices, and materials
that are published and distributed by the division to injured
workers and recommend to the division any other documents that
should be translated into languages other than English pursuant
to subdivisions (b) and (c).

end insert begin insert

(2) Commencing January 1, 2018, and annually thereafter, the
department and the division shall submit the recommendations
and any translated documents to the Legislature.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 124 of the Labor Code is amended to
read:

124.  

(a) In administering and enforcing this division and
Division 4 (commencing with Section 3200), the department and
the division shall protect the interests of injured workers who are
entitled to the timely provision of compensation.

(b) Forms and notices required to be given to employees by the
department or the division shall be in English and comply with
the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act (Chapter 17.5
(commencing with Section 7290) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code).

end delete