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JUDICIAL UPDATES Employer Violated Section 132a by Requiring Workers’ Compensation Claimant to Use Earned Vacation Time Rather Than Sick Leave to Attend Medical Appointments for His Industrial Injuries This case teaches employers to provide leave benefits to workers’ compensation claimants to the same extent as are provided to workers with non-industrial injuries. Andersen was a finance supervisor for the City of Santa Barbara. After developing pain in his elbows, wrists and hands, he filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. About 70 percent of his permanent injuries were due to cumulative trauma at work. He returned to modified work, but needed medical care for his injuries. The City had an ordinance, and a policy, of requiring a workers’ compensation claimant like Anderson to use earned vacation time rather than sick leave to attend medical appointments that were needed to care for the industrial injuries. Workers with non-industrial injuries were allowed to use their sick leave for medical appointments. In pursuing his workers’ compensation benefits, Andersen included a claim that the City discriminated against him within the meaning of Section 132a by forcing him to use vacation time rather than sick leave. The Court easily found that the City’s ordinance and policy discriminated against industrially injured workers because the use of sick leave was dependent solely on whether or not a worker is injured at work out outside of work. The City did not establish a reasonable, legitimate business purpose for the discriminatory policy. (Andersen v. WCAB, California Court of Appeal Case No. B191064.) NEXT: Klinedinst PC Announces Employment Law Symposium Dates In San Diego and L.A.
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