In a significant expansion to the service-connected disability presumptions, the enactment of AB 1020 brings nascent changes to the legal landscape involving occupational safety. Existing law recognizes a rebuttable heart trouble presumption for safety, firefighter, and active law enforcement members. Critically, these members must have completed a minimum of five years of service in public retirement systems governed by the County Employee Retirement Law of 1937, also known as “CERL.”
However, AB 1020 introduces a plethora of new disability presumptions effectively widening the scope of the law for legal professionals and corporations alike in handling these sensitive cases. Advisors at Reed Smith have underlined a few salient features and implications of these changes.
- Perhaps the most important development is the inclusion of new categories of members to the presumptions. These include probation and animal control officers, and it lines them up with firefighters and law enforcement officials.
- The law will now recognize active law enforcement or firefighting service rather than relying on service in a CERL retirement plan to apply the presumption. This expansion brings broader application and increased scrutiny on the nature of services performed.
- AB 1020 also includes a new post-employment one-year presumption, expanding protection to former employees within a year of leaving service.
Legal professionals, especially those representing or working within large corporations and law firms, will need to be profoundly aware of these developments. The implications of AB 1020 could resonate across occupational health and safety regulations, labor law, compensation law, and public retirement systems.
As we continue to delve into the complexities of AB 1020 and see these changes taking shape in court rulings and settlements, it will be illuminating to observe how the law evolves in response to these new presumptions.