©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2023 Cal-Peculiarities | 381 17. Workers’ Compensation The California workers’ compensation system, since the early 1900s, has compensated employees for workrelated injuries. It is a no-fault system, entitling injured workers to benefits without having to prove that the injury was the employer’s fault. The system is a tradeoff: while injured workers get benefits without proof of employer negligence, generally those benefits are the exclusive remedy. The workers’ compensation benefits are paid by either the employer (if the employer is authorized to self-insure) or by the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier.1 While comprehensive details of California’s workers’ compensation system2 are beyond the scope of this modest monograph, that system intersects with employment law generally at various points, discussed briefly below. 17.1 Jurisdiction California will take workers’ compensation jurisdiction over any injury wherever it occurs, if the contract of hire was made in California. More problematic has been the case where an out-of-state worker suffers an injury (or part of a continuous trauma) in California. Traditionally, California, with its generous workers’ compensation benefits, has been a favorite forum for out-of-state workers, because California would take jurisdiction over injuries occurring in California even if the employee was in California only temporarily or only in a way that was incidental to work primarily done outside of California. During 2015, however, statutory and case law developments reversed that trend, resulting in a significant restriction of California’s exercise of jurisdiction over claims by out-of-state employees. California now will decline jurisdiction if an out-of-state employee of an out-ofstate employer has executed a contract of hire designating choice of law and venue for another state for purposes of workers’ compensation benefits. Furthermore, California in any event will not exercise jurisdiction without a showing of minimum contacts and a state interest in the claimed injury in California.3 17.2 Disability Discrimination Under California’s very liberal definition of “disability,” virtually all job-related injuries will entitle the worker not only to compensation benefits but to protection as a disabled worker.4 17.3 Privacy Implications Medical information regarding an injured worker that an insurance carrier obtains during workers’ compensation proceedings may be shielded from disclosure to the employer except insofar as the information is related to diagnosis of the condition for which compensation is claimed or is needed for the employer to modify the employee’s work duties (see § 4.7.2). 17.4 Workers’ Compensation Preemption Remedies obtained through administrative agencies (see §§ 1.7, 1.8), may provide the exclusive remedy with respect to certain theories of liability that would otherwise be available to an employee suing an employer, although the scope of workers’ compensation preemption in California is very narrow compared to that of most states (see § 5.7.1).
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