California's three NFL franchises have announced their support for a California bill aimed at restricting how professional athletes access workers' comp in the state — even as the NFL players' union has spoken out against the measure.
The LA Rams, LA Chargers and San Francisco 49ers are backing state Senate Bill 795, which builds on previous legislation passed in 2013 that aimed to limit out-of-state professional athletes' ability to file workers' compensation claims in California.
The 2013 law established thresholds that must be met by a professional athlete to lawfully file a workers' comp claim for cumulative trauma in California, including requiring athletes to have played more than 20% of their "duty days" in California.
SB 795 would create additional restrictions, including requiring the professional athlete to have performed 20% of their duty days in California during the last 365 days of their career. Exceptions to that rule would include if the athlete worked for two or more seasons for a California-based team or teams and worked for fewer than seven seasons for any team other than a California-based team.
There is also a retroactivity provision in the bill that, if passes, would apply the new requirements to any active and pending claims that haven't been finalized yet.
Supporters of the bill say the aim is to move toward a "one team, one state" liability model, where the player's primary or most recent team's home state takes on the workers' comp responsibility. Before the 2013 law, California often received cumulative trauma claims from players who had spent most of their professional careers in other states, with other teams. Tightening restrictions further would also reduce workers' comp risk exposure, especially for brain and orthopedic injuries, for California-based teams.
But the NFL Players Association has said it "strongly opposes" the bill. In a statement, the NFLPA said the bill "targets our players, stripping them of the constitutional rights and legal protections afforded to every other worker in the state."
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