Managing Employee Injuries and Disability and Occupational Safety

1. C ONSTITUTIONAL A UTHORIZATION The California constitution vests the legislature with the power to create and enforce a complete system of workers’ compensation. This authority is currently contained in Article XIV, Section 4, which provides that the Legislature is “vested with plenary power, unlimited by any provision of this constitution, to create and enforce a complete system of workers’ compensation by appropriate legislation, and in that behalf to create and enforce a liability on the part of any and all persons to compensate any and all of their workers for injury or disability, and their dependents for death incurred or sustained by the said workers in the course of their employment, irrespective of the fault of any party.” 2. L EGISLATIVE H ISTORY Under authority of a California constitutional amendment, the legislature established a voluntary plan of workers’ compensation in 1911. Few employers adopted the plan because of the cost. In 1913, the Boynton Act, which established a compulsory program for employers, was passed. The act was upheld under challenge as a proper exercise of the state’s police powers. The purpose of the workers’ compensation legislation was to provide timely financial assistance to employees who suffered industrial injuries and to insure fast, adequate remedies without consideration of fault. The basic premise underlying the legislation is that industry, as a cost of doing business, should provide for care and rehabilitation of workers disabled by work injuries. The Boynton Act, as amended over the years, serves as a basis for our current law. B. C ALIFORNIA L AW S UMMARIZED The California Workers’ Compensation Law establishes in all, except certain, designated employments, an exclusive system of compensation for injuries, or death to employees arising out of and in the course of their employment and not caused by the employee’s intoxication or intentionally self-inflicted injury. The California Workers’ Compensation Law provides the broadest coverage of employment and benefits in the nation. Virtually every employer and employee within the state of California is subject to the compulsory provisions of its workers’ compensation law. Every type of legal entity may be an employer: individuals, partnerships, corporations, associations, the state, counties, cities, special purpose or taxing districts and other agencies. The law applies with equal force to citizens and resident aliens. The Act provides for medical treatment, temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation benefits, medical benefits, and death benefits. The benefits are funded through insurance or through self-funding by qualified employers. Benefits are administered through a process of self-administration with a right of appeal to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, the California Appellate Courts and the California Supreme Court. The law also provides for preventive measures in the form of safety laws and administrative rules. The law is frequently liberally construed in favor of providing benefits.

Managing Employee Injuries, Disability and Occupational Safety ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 9