Workers' compensation: risk factors.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the administrative director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires a physician who prepares a report addressing the issue of permanent disability due to an industrial injury to address the cause of the permanent disability in the report, including what approximate percentage of the permanent disability was caused by other factors before and after the industrial injury, if the physician is able to make an apportionment determination. This bill would prohibit consideration of race, religious creed, color, national origin, gender, marital status, sex, sexual identity, or sexual orientation to determine the approximate percentage of the permanent disability caused by other factors. The bill would also express the Legislature's intent to eliminate bias and discrimination in the workers' compensation system.