BILL NUMBER:  AB 2616
  VETOED	DATE: 09/29/2014




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 2616 without my signature.

This bill would create a first of its kind private employer workers'
compensation presumption for a specific staph infection --
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -- for certain
hospital employees.

California's no-fault system of worker's compensation insurance
requires that claims must be "liberally construed" to extend benefits
to injured workers whenever possible. The determination that an
illness is work-related should be decided by the rules of that system
and on the specific facts of each employee's situation. While I am
aware that statutory presumptions have steadily expanded for certain
public employees, I am not inclined to further this trend or to
introduce it into the private sector.

Some have reported that hospitals have intimidated nurses from filing
valid worker's compensation claims for a work-related MRSA
infection. Any such conduct would be reprehensible. I am therefore
directing the Department of Industrial Relations to investigate and
take whatever action is needed.

Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.