The California Chamber of Commerce on Thursday issued a statement urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto a bill that would create a presumption of compensability for certain heat-related injuries suffered by agricultural workers.
S.B. 1299, which the governor has until the end of September to sign, would create the rebuttable presumption that a heat-related injury arose out of employment when the employer failed to comply with heat standards promulgated by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
The Assembly on Aug. 28 voted 60-16 to pass the bill, and the Senate voted 29-9 to pass it May 22.
CalChamber said in its statement that there is no data supporting the need to create the presumption. The statement cites a recent study by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute that found 89% of claims from agricultural workers are accepted and only 0.65% of all agriculture claims involved heat-related injuries or illnesses.
The chamber also said the bill appears to task Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board judges with the responsibility for determining whether an employer violated a heat illness prevention standard.
“While preliminary audits show few claims related to heat are filed, under SB 1299, each claim filed will be increasingly more time- and labor-intensive, given the volume of the medical documentation and qualified medical examiner reports, as well as the heat illness standards inspection reports,” CalChamber said. “The complexity of each allegation will likely require multiple hearings to determine the validity of the claims, especially considering that this is not WCAB’s expertise.”
This article was first published in Business Insurance.
