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Disability pay boost sought
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Story appeared in BUSINESS section, Page D1
Injured workers, at a news conference this morning, are expected to urge California lawmakers to raise the benefits paid to workers who are permanently disabled in on-the-job accidents, pointing to data showing that workers here receive the fourth-lowest payments in the nation.
Today at the Capitol, the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee will hear Senate Bill 1717, aimed at partially restoring permanent disability compensation to injured workers. The measure is being carried by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, his third attempt to aid workers.
A sweeping workers' compensation overhaul backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 has slashed insurance rates to less than $3 per $100 in payroll in 2007 from an average premium of $6.47 per $100 in late 2003. Meanwhile, injured workers say their permanent disability benefits have plummeted by 50 percent to 70 percent.
In one example, taken from a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a worker who lost an ear at work in California would have received an average of $5,280, but a peer in Oregon would have gotten $100,310; in Arizona, $26,400; and in Washington, $12,685.
Jerry Azevedo, a spokesman for the Workers' Compensation Action Network, a Sacramento-based coalition of state employers and insurers, said many businesses will oppose the bill. The Governor's Office said he has not yet taken a stand, but he has opposed Perata in the past.
– Mark Glover
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