The California Rental Association has joined in efforts to place a workers’ compensation reform initiative on the general election ballot in November.
The initiative, called the Workers’ Compensation Accountability and Reform Act will require employees to prove an injury occurred on the job and will call upon the employee to provide a preponderance of evidence; and that injured employees receive permanent disability benefits from employers only for the portion of disability caused as a direct result of the workplace injury.
“We’d prefer a legislative solution, but if legislation can’t reform the workers’ compensation system, the ballot initiative is a good fallback position,” CRA’s executive director Chuck Maltese told RER. “As it is now, nobody is policing the system. We all believe in compensating legitimately injured employees, but there are too many abuses and frivolous claims in the current system.”
CRA is encouraging California rental people to help gather the 1 million signatures needed by April 16 to place the reform initiative on the ballot.
In other CRA news, the association recently moved to a new suite of offices in Sacramento. “We loved the building in Woodland, but we got an offer we couldn’t refuse,” said Maltese. “The building was larger than we needed.”
