Background Information on Gender Bias Class Action Suit

Yesterday, several women who suffered work injuries joined with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) of California to file a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that female injured workers in California are denied equal permanent disability benefits because of systemic gender bias. The California Department of Industrial Relations, the Division of Workers’ Compensation, the state Secretary of Labor, and various boards and officials were all named in the suit, and the plaintiffs are seeking class-action status. 

The suit alleges that PD payments in California are often reduced because an injury or condition is linked in part to gender-based “risk factors” like menopause, and that the ramifications of illnesses such as breast cancer that are mostly associated with women are deemed less disabling than those that affect men, which can result in a denial of compensation.

In response to a press inquiry, CWCI General Counsel Ellen Sims Langille drafted a background piece which rebuts many of the arguments put forth in the suit and includes pertinent statutory and case law references on the issue.  A copy is attached for your review.  The issue also will be discussed in detail at CWCI’s next Legal Committee meeting on August 4.