BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Senator Tony Mendoza, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 559 Hearing Date: April 8,
2015
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|Author: |Block |
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|Version: |February 26, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|Gideon Baum |
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Subject: Workers' compensation: public employees
KEY ISSUE
Should the Legislature extend "4850 leave" to lifeguards
employed on an annual, full-time basis by the City of Imperial
Beach?
ANALYSIS
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system that
provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an injury or
illness that arises out of and in the course of employment,
irrespective of fault. This system requires all employers to
secure payment of benefits by either securing the consent of the
Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure or by securing
insurance against liability from an insurance company duly
authorized by the state.
Existing law provides for the payment of indemnity benefits if
the occupational injury causes temporary or permanent disability
which prevents the worker from returning to his or her job. In
the case of temporary disability payments, the benefit is
two-thirds of the weekly loss in wages due to disability for up
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to 104 weeks within 5 years (Labor Code §§4650, 4653, 4654 and
4656).
Existing law provides that certain public employees employed on
a regular, full-time basis regardless of their period of
service, who incur on the job injury or illness, are entitled to
receive disability payment for up to one year. These employees
include:
a) City police officers;
b) City, county, or district firefighters;
c) Sheriffs;
d) Inspectors, investigators, detectives, or personnel with
comparable titles in any district attorney's office;
e) County probation officers, group counselors, or juvenile
services officers; and
f) Lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County or the City of
San Diego.
This leave of absence is set forth in Labor Code Section 4850
and is sometimes referred to as "4850 leave".
This bill would allow lifeguards employed year-round by the City
of Imperial Beach on a regular, full-time basis by the City of
Imperial Beach to be eligible for 4850 leave.
COMMENTS
1. Need for this bill?
As was discussed above, California's workers' compensation
system provides a temporary disability (TD) indemnity benefit
for injured workers who are temporarily unable to return to
work. TD benefits replace up to 66% of an injured workers'
pay for up to 2 years. However, for California's peace
officers, state law requires that 100% of the injured worker's
pay is provided in lieu of the first year of TD benefits.
This is known as "4850 leave", named after the Labor Code
section which creates the leave.
SB 527 (Statutes of 2013, Chapter 66) extends 4850 leave to
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the City of San Diego's lifeguards. As was noted in the
committee analysis at the time, San Diego's lifeguards perform
many of the same duties as peace officers, including arrests
and rescues, and they are a division of San Diego's
Fire-Rescue Department. Currently, San Diego's lifeguards are
the only municipal lifeguards who are eligible to receive 4850
leave.
SB 599 would extend 4850 leave to full-time lifeguards
employed by the City of Imperial Beach. Imperial Beach has
lifeguards on active duty from 7 AM to dusk every day of the
year. According to the City of Imperial Beach's website,
lifeguard staffing levels vary from 4 lifeguards in the winter
to 20 lifeguards in the summer. Based on conversations with
the sponsor, however, it is likely that the expansion of 4850
leave would cover around 10 lifeguards.
2. Proponent Arguments :
The author and sponsor argue that lifeguards employed by the
City of Imperial Beach perform similar work as their
counterparts in San Diego and Los Angeles, yet are currently
unable to utilize 4850 leave. Proponents further note that
lifeguards employed by the City of Imperial Beach are exposed
to dangers and threats similar to that of police officers and
firefighters as they regularly perform water rescues, operate
fire boats, assist in underwater diving searches, and deliver
emergency medical aid. Proponents argue that SB 559 repairs
this inequity by extending 4850 leave provisions that cover
lifeguards employed by the City of Imperial Beach.
3. Opponent Arguments :
None on file.
4. Prior Legislation :
SB 527 (Block), Statutes of 2013, Chapter 66, was discussed
above.
SUPPORT
Service Employees International Union, Local 221 (Sponsor)
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OPPOSITION
None on File
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