BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 915
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Tom Daly, Chair
AB 915
(Holden) - As Amended March 19, 2015
SUBJECT: Public education employees: industrial accident or
illness leaves of absence: travel restriction
SUMMARY: Repeals the restriction on out-of-state travel for
school and community college employees who are receiving
statutory industrial injury leave benefits. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Repeals a law applicable to both classified and certificated
K-12 school employees that prohibits, absent authorization
from the school board, out-of-state travel during any period
where the employee is receiving industrial injury leave
benefits.
2)Repeals a law applicable to both academic and non-academic
community college employees that prohibits, absent
authorization from the governing board of the community
college district, out-of-state travel during any period where
the employee is receiving industrial injury leave benefits.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Establishes a comprehensive system to provide workers'
compensation benefits, including temporary disability benefits
when employees are temporarily unable to work, for any
employee who suffers an injury or condition that arises out of
or in the course of employment.
2)Provides for most employees a temporary disability (TD)
benefit of 2/3 of the employee's average weekly pay, subject
to a current maximum weekly benefit of $1066. Because
disability benefits are tax-free, the 2/3 formula is designed
to approximate an employee's take home pay, subject to the
weekly cap.
3)Provides for most fire and police employees an industrial
injury leave of absence of up to one year at full pay, and
without a cap.
4)Requires school districts and community colleges to adopt
rules granting their employees industrial injury leave
benefits of at least 60 days at full pay, without a cap.
5)Provides that a school employee receiving this industrial
leave benefit cannot leave the State without the authorization
of the employing school or community college district board.
FISCAL EFFECT: Undetermined
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, the bill is intended to
align the rules governing full pay leaves for industrial
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injuries between the Education Code and the Labor Code. Each
Code has a special workers' compensation-like statutory
benefit for certain employees, but only the Education Code
limits out-of-state travel for those employees while they are
receiving the benefit. The author further notes that there is
no limitation on travel for any employee who is receiving
regular TD benefits. The author argues that artificial
limitations on travel for injured employees who may need to
travel out of state for any number of valid reasons makes
little sense.
2)Rationale for travel restriction. The precursor Code section
to the Election Code Sections that contain the travel
limitation date to at least the late 1950's. The annotations
do not suggest the policy rationale for placing a travel
restriction on an employee who is legitimately disabled, nor
has a rationale been suggested by any stakeholder.
Speculation might suggest that in an era over half a century
ago, if an employee travelled far away, it would be difficult
to recall that employee to determine whether the disabling
condition might have resolved. (Although, it should be noted
that even with a strict application of the current rule, a San
Diego teacher could travel to Crescent City without
authorization, and still be less accessible than if that
employee had travelled to Las Vegas.) However, with modern
communication and travel options, it is difficult to imagine
how a school district could in any way be prejudiced by an
employee who is on lawful leave temporarily leaving the state.
3)"4850 time" and regular TD. A far more common special full
salary benefit provides most public safety officers with a
full year of full salary disability leave for on-the-job
injuries pursuant to Labor Code Section 4850. While that Code
Section is not without controversy, it does not have a travel
limitation, nor have any governmental employers who must
comply with Section 4850 ever raised out-of-state travel as an
issue of concern.
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In addition, as the author has noted, there is no travel
restriction on the vast majority of employees who can access
up to 104 weeks of regular TD benefits if their on-the-job
injury causes them to be temporarily disabled.
4)General workers' compensation rules. In general, injured
workers must comply with reasonable requests for medical
treatment or evaluations in order to receive benefits. This
includes attending, upon reasonable scheduling, appointments
to determine if disabling conditions are still preventing the
employee from performing either the duties of his or her
regular job, or modified duties offered by the employer.
These are the rules that all employers, other than the schools
at issue in this bill, use for employees on temporary
disability leave. If an employee fails to comply either with
reasonable requests by the employer, or orders of a workers
compensation judge, the employer is not required to continue
paying benefits.
5)Board authorization? According to the Association of
California School Administrators ACSA), the key problem with
the existing statute is that it requires an authorization of a
Board - which meets infrequently - to allow out-of-state
travel. It acknowledges there have been cases where employees
on disability leave have, for example, missed out-of-state
funerals of family members due to a lack of proper
authorization from a board that was not meeting in time. The
solution proposed is to amend the statute to ensure that the
Superintendent, or a designee who is always available, can act
on authorization requests. ACSA also argues that the travel
restriction ensures that an employee on leave will be
available to attend medical evaluations, or other appointments
critical to the employee's leave status. ACSA believes its
proposed amendment balances this school district interest with
an employee's interest in travelling out-of-state during a
disability leave.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
SEIU California
Opposition
Association of California School Administrators
Orange County Department of Education
Analysis Prepared by:Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086
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