BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 915
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
915 (Holden)
As Amended March 19, 2015
Majority vote
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
|Insurance |13-0 |Daly, Beth Gaines, | |
| | |Travis Allen, | |
| | |Calderon, Cooley, | |
| | |Cooper, Dababneh, | |
| | |Frazier, Gatto, | |
| | |Gonzalez, Grove, | |
| | |Mayes, Rodriguez | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
AB 915
Page 2
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:
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 two-thirds of the employee's average weekly pay, subject to a
current maximum weekly benefit of $1,066. Because disability
benefits are tax-free, the two-thirds 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
AB 915
Page 3
employing school or community college district board.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill is intended to
align the rules governing full pay leaves for industrial
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
AB 915
Page 4
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 Labor
Code Section 4850 ever raised out-of-state travel as an issue of
concern.
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
AB 915
Page 5
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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086 FN: 0000360