Workers' compensation.

(1) Existing workers' compensation law generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. This bill would provide that no workers' compensation claim shall be denied because the employee's injury or death was related to the employee's race, religious creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would apply employment discrimination protections to workers' compensation law in order to prohibit the wrongful reduction or denial of workers' compensation benefits. (2) Existing law requires any physician who prepares a report addressing the issue of permanent disability due to a claimed industrial injury to address the issue of causation of the permanent disability, and requires that the report include an apportionment determination in order to be considered complete on the issue of permanent disability. This bill would prohibit race, religious creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics from being considered a cause or other factor of disability considered in any determination made pursuant to those provisions.