BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1451
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
1451 (Chávez)
As Enrolled July 15, 2015
2/3 vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Insurance |8-2 |Daly, Calderon, |Beth Gaines, Travis |
| | |Cooley, Cooper, |Allen |
| | |Dababneh, Gatto, | |
| | |Gonzalez, Mayes | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Authorizes enhanced temporary disability benefits
(known as "4850 time") for specified lifeguards employed by the
City of Oceanside. Specifically, this bill:
1)Adds lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside on a
full-time, year-round basis to the class of public safety
employees who receive special, enhanced temporary disability
benefits when they are unable to work due to illness or injury
that arose out of, or in the course of, employment.
2)Includes legislative findings that a special law is necessary
within the meaning of California Constitution Article IV,
Section 16.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides for a comprehensive system of benefits paid for by
employers to employees who suffer illness or injury that
arises out of, or in the course of, employment.
2)Includes temporary disability (TD) benefits for up to 104
weeks if an employee is temporarily unable to work during
recuperation from the workplace illness or injury.
3)Establishes a minimum and a maximum amount that an employee
may receive, which is adjusted annually to reflect rising wage
levels. Currently the minimum benefit is $165 per week, and
the maximum benefit is $1,103. The benefit is calculated
based on two-thirds of an employee's average weekly wages,
subject to the maximum cap.
4)Provides specified public safety officers with an enhanced
temporary disability benefit for up to the first year of
temporary disability. These safety officers receive their
full salary (tax free) during the first year of temporary
disability.
5)Includes lifeguards who are full time year round employees of
the County of Los Angeles and the City of San Diego among the
safety officers who are entitled to this special enhanced
temporary disability benefit.
6)Provides that a special statute is invalid if a general
statute could be made applicable.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, undetermined increased workers' compensation costs to
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the City of Oceanside.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, the bill is intended to
correct an oversight that left out the City of Oceanside
lifeguards when the City of San Diego lifeguards were added to
the "4850" leave of absence law in 2013, when SB 527 (Block),
Chapter 66, Statutes of 2013, was enacted. The author asserts
that the Oceanside lifeguards "have the same responsibilities,
training, and meet the mandates of the law to receive the
benefit." The author asserts that both the employer and
employee association agree (as was the case with the expansion
for City of San Diego lifeguards) that this change is
appropriate.
2)Collective bargaining? If a local public agency wants to
grant employees certain benefits of employment, it is able to
accomplish that goal without need for a statutory change. In
fact, the City of Los Angeles has provided "4850-like"
benefits to a range of employees without need of a statute
mandating the benefit for those employees. If it is correct,
as the author asserts, that both the city and its employees
are in agreement, then the collective bargaining process, and
not legislation, may be the better approach to enhancing the
benefits of this class of employee.
3)Temporary disability benefits. The goal of TD is to
approximate an employee's take home pay during the period
after injury when the employee is temporarily unable to work.
This goal is implemented by basing the weekly TD benefit on
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2/3 of the employee's average weekly wages. Because there is
a cap, employees who make more than approximately $1,600 per
week do not reach this 2/3 goal, but because the benefit is
tax free, most employees receive an adequate TD benefit while
they are recovering.
4)Special public safety benefits. Public safety officers
(police, sheriff, and firefighter employees generally) receive
certain special workers' compensation benefits that other
employees do not receive. Most notably, this class of
employee has the benefit of a range of "presumptions" that
certain illnesses or injuries are automatically deemed to be
work related. All other employees are required to prove that
their condition is work related. The second significant
special workers' compensation benefit is granted by Labor Code
Section 4850 - commonly referred to as "4850 time" - and this
law grants defined employees up to one year of full salary in
lieu of the regular method for calculating TD benefits. The
author asserts that these lifeguards are sufficiently like
other peace officers as to justify awarding them the special
disability leave benefits.
5)Tax advantages. Because these benefits are paid due to
disability, they are not subject to either state or federal
taxes. This applies to regular TD benefits, and to 4850
benefits. Because of the tax-free status of this benefit, a
public safety officer takes home substantially more in weekly
benefits than they normally earn while working - i.e., normal
take home pay plus what would have been paid in taxes. Public
employers have long complained that this creates a
disincentive in getting injured public safety officers to
return to work, even if they are able, due to the financial
loss they would suffer when they return. The extent of the
return to work disincentive may be unclear with respect to
these particular employees, but factually, they make more
money while off duty than when they return.
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6)Lifeguards. It appears that the year round, full-time
lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County were included in the
original legislation in 1983 that established Labor Code
Section 4850. It is not clear why those employees were
included, nor whether they perform substantially public safety
and law enforcement duties, as is claimed by the City of San
Diego or the City of Oceanside lifeguards. However, if the
expansion of public safety officer benefits to other classes
of employee is appropriate, the legislation should be clear
that the employees must be public safety officers.
In addition, if there is a class of employee - lifeguards
employed by various city, county, state park, or special
district employers - it is not clear why a "special law" is an
appropriate vehicle to provide this class of employees with
safety officer special benefits. A general law, applicable to
the whole class of employees, may be more appropriate if, in
fact, these employees perform comparable peace officer duties
as the broader class of peace officers who receive this
benefit.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
This bill adds full-time lifeguards employed by the City of
Oceanside to the list of employees who are entitled up to one
year of leave, paid at full salary without payroll tax
deductions, if they suffer an illness or injury that arises out
of their job duties.
Recent data indicates public employers' costs related to this
disability leave benefit have increased at an alarming rate.
These cost figures give me pause to extend this benefit further
in state law. If the City of Oceanside wishes to offer full
salary in lieu of temporary disability for one year to their
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regular full-time lifeguards, they are free to do so by means of
the collective bargaining process. Eligibility for this benefit
is best left to the City of Oceanside, not the state, to
determine.
Analysis Prepared by:
Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086 FN: 0001356