BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 454
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Date of Hearing: April 10, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 454 (Dickinson) - As Amended: April 2, 2013
SUBJECT : Workers' compensation benefits: prevailing wages
SUMMARY : Requires calculation of certain benefits based on the
prevailing wage, not actual wages paid, where prevailing wages
should have been, but were not, paid. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that when temporary disability benefits (TD) or
permanent disability benefits (PD) are due to an injured
worker who earned less than the prevailing wage, but the work
performed was under a contract which was subject to a federal,
state, city, city and county, or county prevailing wage
requirement, the benefits shall be calculated using the
applicable prevailing wage, instead of the actual wages paid.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides for a comprehensive system of workers' compensation
benefits to be paid to workers' whose injuries arise out of or
in the course of employment, including wage replacement
benefits in the event of temporary or permanent disability
resulting from the injury.
2)Establishes a formula for calculating the weekly TD benefits
paid to a particular injured worker using that worker's weekly
wages, subject to a minimum benefit and a cap based on the
statewide average weekly wage.
3)Establishes a schedule of weekly permanent disability benefits
that includes the weekly wages earned by the injured worker.
4)Provides a worker who is paid below the prevailing wage, where
there is a prevailing wage requirement, a remedy to recover
the wages that should have been paid.
FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined.
COMMENTS :
AB 454
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1)Purpose . According to the author, some employers take
advantage of workers who may not know about their rights to
receive a "prevailing" wage for work performed pursuant to
certain public works contracts. These employers pay below the
prevailing wage, even after bidding on a contract where they
included the higher wages as a part of their cost structure.
While there is a wage remedy for workers who are denied their
lawful wage, there is no similar remedy in cases where such a
worker is injured. The bill is intended to cure this lack of
remedy.
2)Prevailing wage . Pursuant to the laws of a number of
governmental jurisdictions, including state and local laws in
California, certain public works projects are subject to
requirements that the workers who perform the labor on the
projects are paid a "prevailing wage" - that is, a wage based
on the prevailing wage level in the locality where the work is
performed. The wage for any particular class of worker in any
particular locality is determined in advance and readily
available to a contractor who is bidding on or performing work
on the public works project.
3)Support . According to the California Applicants Attorneys
Association (CAAA), workers who are often the most vulnerable
- those with poor English language skills particularly - can
be taken advantage of by an unscrupulous contractor.
According to CAAA, its members have encountered many cases
where injured workers have been paid substantially below the
prevailing wage that the law required. While there is a wage
remedy in the Labor Code, CAAA asserts that there is not a
comparable remedy in the workers' compensation law that
ensures that benefits are paid at the level that the injured
worker was entitled to be paid. This bill is designed to cure
this loophole.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Applicants' Attorneys Association.
Opposition
None received.
AB 454
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Analysis Prepared by : Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086