Sacramento – Earlier today, the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations heard and passed AB 44 (Reyes) with unanimous and bi-partisan support after some very emotional and, at times, difficult testimony from Sally Cardinale & Julie Paez, both survivors of the terrorist attack of Dec. 2nd, 2015.
As testimony concluded, the committee members voiced continued frustration over the worker’s compensation system that was initially set up to provide workers injured on the jobsite with wage replacement and medical benefits in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the right to sue their employer for negligence. Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), a member of the committee, expressed her outrage with our worker’s compensation system that has failed our workers. “Workers gave up a right they would otherwise have to sue, in exchange for a promise that has been long forgotten.”
As the injured employees sought medical treatment for their serious injuries, they were met with countless delays and denials that, some argued, prolonged their recovery period. In response, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes introduced AB 44 on her first day in office, on the first anniversary of the tragedy.
Testimony provided by Sally Cardinale during the hearing illustrated the degree to which the system failed the survivors of the attack. “Unfortunately our experience within the current worker’s compensation system proves that the system is not set up to assist those who are forced to be in it as a result of terrorism that occurs in the work place. None of us wanted to be here. We did not wake up that morning expecting that we would ever experience the things that we experienced that day. And we definitely did not expect that we would still need to be having to fight for our care a year and a half after it happened.”
Assembly Bill 44 is aimed at addressing the egregious ongoing medical treatment delays and denials experienced by survivors and their families. “The trauma suffered by the survivors did not end on that day. Countless press articles as well as my own conversations with survivors have revealed that the worker’s compensation system in California was not prepared for the scale and scope of the December 2nd attack,” said Assemblymember Reyes. “Not only months after the attack, but even over a year later, survivors were still reporting treatment delays and denials.”
The bill requires employers to immediately provide advocacy services to employees and first responders who are injured in the act of domestic terrorism. The bill will ensure that victims obtain timely medical treatment. AB 44 would establish a process for disputing such treatments as well as setting up processes when treatment is denied. The bill would also apply retroactively to employees and first responders injured in the Dec. 2nd terrorist attack.
To follow AB 44 which will be heard next in the Senate Appropriations Committee, click here.
Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes represents Assembly District 47 which includes the cities of Fontana, Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, San Bernardino and the unincorporated areas of Muscoy and Bloomington.
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Contact: Galen Dobbins, galen.dobbins@asm.ca.gov, (916) 319-2047