This
is a partial list of the various laws that provide presumptions for law
enforcement personnel. Be certain to read each section carefully to
determine if it is applicable to your situation. PORAC is providing this
general information but we strongly urge you to consult a legal
professional in the Workers Compensation area before making a
determination of your status under the law.
Labor Code Section 3212,
Presumptions for Heart, Hernia, and Pneumonia
In the case of members
of a sheriff's office or the California Highway Patrol, district
attorney's staff of inspectors and investigators or of police or fire
departments of cities, counties, cities and counties, districts or other
public or municipal corporations or political subdivisions, whether
those members are volunteer, partly paid, or fully paid, and in the case
of active firefighting members of the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection whose duties require firefighting or of any county forestry
or firefighting department or unit, whether voluntary, fully paid, or
partly paid, and in the case of embers of the warden service of the
Wildlife Protection Branch of the Department of Fish and Game whose
principal duties consist of active law enforcement service, excepting
those hose principal duties are clerical or otherwise do not clearly
fall within the scope of active law enforcement service such as
stenographers, telephone operators, and other office workers, the term
"injury" as used in this act includes hernia when any part of the hernia
develops or manifests itself during a period while the member is in the
service in the office, staff, division, department, or unit, and in the
case of members of fire departments, except those whose principal duties
are clerical, such as stenographers, telephone operators, and other
office workers, and in the case of county forestry or firefighting
departments, except those whose principal duties are clerical, such as
stenographers, telephone operators, and other office workers, and in the
case of active firefighting members of the Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection whose duties require firefighting, and in the case of
members of the warden service of the Wildlife Protection Branch of the
Department of Fish and Game whose principal duties consist of active law
enforcement service, excepting those whose principal duties are clerical
or otherwise do not clearly fall within the scope of active law
enforcement service such as stenographers, telephone operators, and
other office workers, the term "injury" includes pneumonia and heart
trouble that develops or manifests itself during a period while the
member is in the service of the office, staff, department, or unit. In
the case of regular salaried county or city and county peace officers,
the term "injury" also includes any hernia that manifests itself or
develops during a period while the officer is in the service. The
compensation that is awarded for the hernia, heart trouble, or pneumonia
shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability
indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by the workers' compensation
laws of this state.
The hernia, heart
trouble, or pneumonia so developing or manifesting itself in those cases
shall be presumed to arise out of and in the course of the employment.
This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other
evidence, but unless so controverted, the appeals board is bound to find
in accordance with it. The presumption shall be extended to a member
following termination of service for a period of three calendar months
for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months
in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in
the specified capacity.
The hernia, heart
trouble, or pneumonia so developing or manifesting itself in those cases
shall in no case be attributed to any disease existing prior to that
development or manifestation.
Labor Code Section 3212.1,
Presumption for Cancer
(a) This section applies to active
firefighting members, whether volunteers, partly paid, or fully paid, of
all of the following fire departments:
(1) A fire
department of a city, county, city and county, district, or the
public or Municipal Corporation or political subdivision
(2) A fire
department of the University of California and the California State
University
(3) The
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(4) A county
forestry or firefighting department or unit
This section also applies to peace
officers, as defined in Section 830.1, subdivision (a) of Section 830.2,
and subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 830.37, of the Penal Code, who
are primarily engaged in active law enforcement activities.
(b) The term "injury," as used in this
division, includes cancer, including leukemia, that develops or
manifests itself during a period in which any member described in
subdivision (a) is in the service of the department or
unit, if the member demonstrates that he or she was exposed, while in
the service of the department or unit, to a known carcinogen as defined
by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or as defined by the
director.
(c) The compensation that is awarded for
cancer shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment,
disability indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by this division.
(d) The cancer so developing or manifesting
itself in these cases shall be presumed to arise out of and in the
course of the employment. This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by evidence that the primary site of the cancer has been
established and that the carcinogen to which the member has demonstrated
exposure is not reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. Unless so
controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with the
presumption. This presumption shall be extended to a member following
termination of service for a period of three calendar months for each
full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any
circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in the
specified capacity.
(e) The amendments to this section enacted
during the 1999 portion of the 1999-2000 Regular Session shall be
applied to claims for benefits filed or pending on or after January 1,
1997, including, but not limited to, claims for benefits filed on or
after that date that have previously been denied, or that are being
appealed following denial.
Labor Code
Section 3212.5, Presumptions for Heart and Pneumonia
In the case of a member
of a police department of a city or municipality, or a member of the
State Highway Patrol, when any such member is employed upon a regular,
full-time salary, and in the case of a sheriff or deputy sheriff, or an
inspector or investigator in a district attorney's office of any county,
employed upon a regular, full-time salary, the term "injury" as used in
this division includes heart trouble and pneumonia which develops or
manifests itself during a period while such member, sheriff, or deputy
sheriff, inspector or investigator is in the service of the police
department, the State Highway Patrol, the sheriff's office or the
district attorney's office, as the case may be. The compensation which
is awarded for such heart trouble or pneumonia shall include full
hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death
benefits as provided by the provisions of this division. Such heart
trouble or pneumonia so developing or manifesting itself shall be
presumed to arise out of and in the course of the employment; provided,
however, that the member of the police department, State Highway Patrol,
the sheriff or deputy sheriff, or an inspector or investigator in a
district attorney's office of any county shall have served five years or
more in such capacity before the presumption shall arise as to the
compensability of heart trouble so developing or manifesting itself.
This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other
evidence, but unless so controverted, the appeals board is bound to find
in accordance with it. This presumption shall be extended to a member
following termination of service for a period of three calendar months
for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months
in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in
the specified capacity.
Such heart trouble
or pneumonia so developing or manifesting itself in such cases shall in
no case be attributed to any disease existing prior to such development
or manifestation.
The term "members"
as used herein shall be limited to those employees of police
departments, the California Highway Patrol and sheriffs' departments and
inspectors and investigators of a district attorney's office who are
defined as peace officers in Section 830.1, 830.2, or 830.3 of the Penal
Code.
Labor Code
Section 3212.6, Presumption for Tuberculosis
In the case of a member
of a police department of a city or county, or a member of the sheriff's
office of a county, or a member of the California Highway Patrol, or an
inspector or investigator in a district attorney's office of any county
whose principal duties consist of active law enforcement service, or a
prison or jail guard or correctional officer who is employed by a public
agency, when that person is employed upon a regular, full-time salary,
or in the case of members of fire departments of any city, county, or
district, or other public or municipal corporations or political
subdivisions, when those members are employed on a regular fully paid
basis, and in the case of active firefighting members of the Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection whose duties require firefighting and first-aid response
services, or of any county forestry or firefighting department or unit,
where those members are employed on a regular fully paid basis,
excepting those whose principal duties are clerical or otherwise do not
clearly fall within the scope of active law enforcement, firefighting,
or emergency first-aid response service such as stenographers, telephone
operators, and other office workers, the term "injury" includes
tuberculosis that develops or manifests itself during a period while
that member is in the service of that department or office. The
compensation that is awarded for the tuberculosis shall include full
hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death
benefits as provided by the provisions of this division. The
tuberculosis so developing or manifesting itself shall be presumed to
arise out of and in the course of the employment. This presumption is
disputable and may be controverted by other evidence, but unless so
controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with it.
This presumption shall be extended to a member following termination of
service for a period of three calendar months for each full year of the
requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance,
commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified
capacity.
A public entity may
require applicants for employment in firefighting positions who would be
entitled to the benefits granted by this section to be tested for
infection for tuberculosis.
Labor Code Section 3212.8 Presumption for
Methicillin-Resistant
Staphylococcus Aureus -(MRSA)
(a) In the case of members of a sheriff's office, of policeor fire departments of cities, counties, cities and counties,districts, or other public or municipal corporations or political subdivisions, or individuals described in Chapter 4.5 (commencing
with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, whether
those persons are volunteer, partly paid, or fully paid, and in the
case of active firefighting members of the Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection, or of any county forestry or firefighting
department or unit, whether voluntary, fully paid, or partly paid,
excepting those whose principal duties are clerical or otherwise do
not clearly fall within the scope of active law enforcement service
or active firefighting services, such as stenographers, telephone
operators, and other office workers, the term "injury" as used in
this division, includes a blood-borne infectious disease or
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection when any
part of the blood-borne infectious disease or methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus skin infection develops or manifests itself
during a period while that person is in the service of that office,
staff, division, department, or unit. The compensation that is
awarded for a blood-borne infectious disease or methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus skin infection shall include, but not be
limited to, full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability
indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by the workers'
compensation laws of this state.
(b) (1) The blood-borne infectious disease or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection so
developing or manifesting itself in those cases shall be presumed to
arise out of and in the course of the employment or service. This
presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other evidence,
but unless so controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in
accordance with it.
(2) The blood-borne infectious disease presumption shall be
extended to a person covered by subdivision (a) following termination
of service for a period of three calendar months for each full year of service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance,
commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified
capacity.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus skin infection presumption shall be extended to
a person covered by subdivision (a) following termination of service
for a period of 90 days, commencing with the last day actually
worked in the specified capacity.
(c) The blood-borne infectious disease or methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus skin infection so developing or manifesting
itself in those cases shall in no case be attributed to any disease
or skin infection existing prior to that development or
manifestation.
(d) For the purposes of this section, "blood-borne infectious
disease" means a disease caused by exposure to pathogenic
microorganisms that are present in human blood that can cause disease
in humans, including those pathogenic microorganisms defined as
blood-borne pathogens by the Department of Industrial Relations.
Labor Code
Section 3212.85, Presumption for Bio-Chemical Exposures
(a) This section
applies to peace officers described in Sections 830.1 to 830.5,
inclusive, of the Penal Code, and members of a fire department.
(b) The term "injury,"
as used in this division, includes illness or resulting death due to
exposure to a biochemical substance that develops or occurs during a
period in which any member described in subdivision (a) is in the
service of the department or unit.
(c) The compensation
that is awarded for injury pursuant to this section shall include full
hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death
benefits, as provided by this division.
(d) The injury that
develops or manifests itself in these cases shall be presumed to arise
out of, and in the course of, the employment. This presumption is
disputable and may be controverted by other evidence. Unless
controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with the
presumption. This presumption shall be extended to a member following
termination of service for a period of three calendar months for each
full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any
circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in the
specified capacity.
(e) For purposes of
this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Biochemical
substance" means any biological or chemical agent that may be used
as a weapon of mass destruction, including, but not limited to, any
chemical warfare agent, weaponized biological agent, or nuclear or
radiological agent, as these terms are defined in Section 11417 of
the Penal Code.
(2) "Members of a
fire department" includes, but is not limited to, an apprentice,
volunteer, partly paid, or fully paid member of any of the
following:
(A) A fire
department of a city, county, city and county, district, or
other public or municipal corporation or political subdivision.
(B) A fire
department of the University of California and the California
State University.
(C) The
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(D) A
county forestry or firefighting department or unit.
Labor Code Section 3212.9,
Presumption for Meningitis
In the case of a
member of a police department of a city, county, or city and county, or
a member of the sheriff's office of a county, or a member of the
California Highway Patrol, or a county probation officer, or an
inspector or investigator in a district attorney's office of any county
whose principal duties consist of active law enforcement service, when
that person is employed on a regular, full-time salary, or in the case
of a member of a firedepartment of any city, county, or district, or
other public or municipal corporation or political subdivision, or any
county forestry or firefighting department or unit, when those members
are employed on a regular full-time salary, excepting those whose
principal duties are clerical or otherwise do not clearly fall within
the scope of active law enforcement or firefighting, such as
stenographers, telephone operators, and other office workers, the term
"injury" includes meningitis that develops or manifests itself during a
period while that person is in the service of that department, office,
or unit. The compensation that is awarded for the meningitis shall
include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability
indemnity, and death benefits as provided by the provisions of this
division.
The meningitis so
developing or manifesting itself shall be presumed to arise out of and
in the course of the employment. This presumption is disputable and may
be ontroverted by other evidence, but unless so controverted, the
appeals board is bound to find in accordance with it. This presumption
shall be extended to a person following termination of service for a
period of three calendar months for each full year of the requisite
service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance, commencing
with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity.
Labor Code
Section 3213,
Presumption for Heart and Pneumonia
In the case of a
member of the University of California Police Department who has
graduated from an academy certified by the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training, when he and all members of the campus department
of which he is a member have graduated from such an academy, and when
any such member is employed upon a regular, full-time salary, the term
"injury" as used in this division includes heart trouble and pneumonia
which develops or manifests itself during a period while such member is
in the service of such campus department of the University of California
Police Department. The compensation which is awarded for such heart
trouble or pneumonia shall include full hospital, surgical, medical
treatment, disability indemnity, and death benefits as provided by the
provisions of this division. Such heart trouble or pneumonia so
developing or manifesting itself shall be presumed to arise out of and
in the course of the employment; provided, however, that the member of
the University of California Police Department shall have served five
years or more in such capacity before the presumption shall arise as to
the compensability of heart trouble so developing or manifesting itself.
This presumption
is disputable and may be controverted by other evidence, but unless so
controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with it.
This presumption shall be extended to a member following termination of
service for a period of three calendar months for each full year of the
requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance,
commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified
capacity. Such heart trouble or pneumonia so developing or manifesting
itself in such cases shall in no case be attributed to any disease
existing prior to such development or manifestation. As used in this
section:
(a) "Members" shall be
limited to those employees of the University of California Police
Department who are defined as peace officers in Section 830.2 of the
Penal Code.
(b) "Campus" shall
include any campus or other installation maintained under the
jurisdiction of the Regents of the University of California.
(c) "Campus department"
means all members of the University of California Police Department who
are assigned and serve on a particular campus.
Labor Code Section 3213.2,
Presumption for Lower Back Impairment
In the case of a
member of a police department of a city, county, or city and county, or
a member of the sheriff's office of a county, or a peace officer
employed by the Department of the California Highway Patrol, or a peace
officer employed by the University of California, who has been employed
for at least five years as a peace officer on a regular, full-time
salary and has been required to wear a duty belt as a condition of
employment, the term "injury," as used in this division, includes lower
back impairments. The compensation that is awarded for lower back
impairments shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment,
disability indemnity, and death benefits as provided by the provisions
of this division.
(b) The lower back
impairment so developing or manifesting itself in the peace officer
shall be presumed to arise out of and in the course of the employment.
This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other
evidence, but unless so controverted, the appeals board is bound to find
in accordance with it. This presumption shall be extended to a person
following termination of service for a period of three calendar months
for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months
in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in
the specified capacity.
(c) For purposes of
this section, "duty belt" means a belt used for the purpose of holding a
gun, handcuffs, baton, and other items related to law enforcement.