County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: disability retirement: medical conditions: employment-related presumption.

Existing law, the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937, prescribes the rights, benefits, and duties of members of the retirement systems established pursuant to its provisions. Existing law requires, if a safety member, a firefighter member, or a member in active law enforcement who has completed 5 years or more of service develops heart trouble, that the heart trouble be presumed to arise out of and in the course of employment. This bill would require the presumption that the member's heart trouble arose out of and in the course of employment to be extended following termination of service for a prescribed length of time not to exceed 60 months. Existing law provides that participants in certain membership categories may be entitled to special benefits if the injury that causes their disability arises in the course of their employment. Existing law creates a presumption, for purposes of qualification for disability retirement benefits for specified members, that certain injuries, including, but not limited to, a bloodborne infectious disease or a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection, arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law authorizes the presumption to be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, but unless controverted, the applicable governing board of a public retirement system is required to find in accordance with the presumption. This bill would expand the scope of this presumption to include additional injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder, tuberculosis, skin cancer, lower back impairments, Lyme disease, hernia, pneumonia, and meningitis, if the injury develops or manifests while a member, as defined, is in a specified job classification, or additionally if the injury develops or manifests within a prescribed length of time following the termination of the member's employment in the specified job classification. With respect to skin cancer, this bill would additionally require the member to have worked for 3 consecutive months in a calendar year in a specified position for the presumption to apply. With respect to lower back impairments, this bill would additionally require the member to have worked at least 5 years in a specified position that required the member to wear a duty belt as a condition of employment for the presumption to apply. This bill would authorize the presumption relating to these additional injuries to be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, but unless controverted, the applicable governing board of a public retirement system is required to find in accordance with the presumption. The bill would repeal the provisions related to post-traumatic stress disorder on January 1, 2025. The bill would, contingent upon the enactment of SB 623 of the 2023–24 Regular Session, as specified, repeal the provisions related to post-traumatic stress disorder on January 1, 2032.