AB 305, aimed at preventing gender discrimination in workers’ comp, continues to advance in the legislature.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, survived an Assembly Insurance committee vote and will proceed to the Assembly.
The bill would prohibit apportionment determinations in physical injury cases based on factors of osteoporosis, pregnancy or menopause. In psyche injury cases apportionment could not be based on on sexual harassment contemporaneous with the psychiatric injury.
Impairment ratings for breast cancer and its sequelae could not be less than comparable ratings for prostate cancer and its sequelae.
I’m aware that some in the employer community don’t like the bill. Perhaps they think that these exceptions to the apportionment statute are the camel nose under the tent that will undermine the apportionment statute.
Not likely.
Really, though, this bill is a narrow bill that will come in play only in very limited circumstances.
It will be interesting to see how hard opponents try to drum up opposition in the California Senate, and what efforts they make to get the Governor’s staff to oppose the bill.
The bill looks fair and, to use a term I really despise, “politically correct”.
A link to the current version of AB 305 can be found here:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billHistoryClient.xhtml
Here is a press release on AB 305 from the sponsor’s office:
Stay tuned.
Julius Young
510.835.8870