BILL NUMBER: S583A

SPONSOR: PERALTA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in
relation to permanent total disability

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill will create a presumption of permanent total disability for
claimants who are found eligible for federal social security disability
benefits.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends § 15(1) of the workers' compensation law
to allow claimants who are approved for social security disability bene-
fits to be considered permanently totally disabled in the absence of
conclusive proof to the contrary.

 
JUSTIFICATION:
              

Workers who are injured or become ill on the job often apply for federal
social security disability benefits after suffering such a condition.
The federal eligibility standard for these benefits is that the claimant
is "unable to engage in substantial gainful activity." This standard
requires that an injured worker must be unable to perform any work
activity on a full-time sustained basis and is essentially considered
"totally disabled" by the Social Security Administration. A claimant
whose condition is severe enough to meet this disability standard should
be eligible for permanent total disability benefits under the workers'
compensation law.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2015-2016: S1274A
2013-2014: S76
2011-2012: S728
2009-2010: S2781 Referred to Labor
2008: A10880 Referred to Labor.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Cost savings to the State are expected, specifically due to anticipated
reduction in litigation. A recent survey by the Injured Workers' Bar
Association and Safety Net Reports for 2008, 2009, and 2010 demonstrate
that: a) most permanently partially disabled workers are low-wage work-
ers; b) there is little relationship between the Workers' Compensation
Board's disability determinations and the actual employability of
injured workers; and c) most permanently partially disabled workers are
eligible for and ultimately received Social Security Disability bene-
fits. As a result, the Board is engaging in substantial litigation over
the issue of permanent partial disability without achieving rational
results and while duplicating a record that has already been developed
by the Social Security Administration. In fact, the 2010 safety net
report found that more than two-thirds of the PPD claimants were found
eligible for Social Security Disability benefits. The vast majority of
these cases require testimony from the injured worker and at least two
physicians. This involves considerable time and expense in order to
duplicate the evidence and conclusions that were already arrived at by
the Social Security disability system in at least two-thirds of the
claims. It should be noted, that the rate of classification, and thus
the rate of litigation, has increased substantially since 2012 due to
the issuance of the Board's guidelines for determining loss of wage
earning capacity and its project to accelerate the pace of classifica-
tion and imposition of the PPD caps. All of these factors support the
rationale behind this legislation, which is to harmonize the outcomes of
the workers' compensation and Social Security disability systems, reduce
litigation and achieve fundamental fairness for injured workers.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.