Nurses across California are applauding the vote taken by the State of California’s Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee to advance S.B. 632 - authored by Senator Jesse Arreguín and sponsored by California Nurses Association (CNA). If passed, the Bill would ensure Nurses and other Health Care Workers are automatically eligible for Workers’ Compensation for a variety of injuries and illnesses. Amidst a staffing crisis in the nursing profession, the legislation would help increase the retention of skilled Nurses in California’s Hospitals. California is one of many States with laws that grant some Public Safety Employees presumptive eligibility for Workers’ Compensation. However, Nurses have no such protections, even though they suffer alarmingly high rates of injury and illness compared to Workers overall. Registered Nurses experience 95% more work-related injuries and illnesses of all kinds than U.S. Workers overall, with high rates of back injuries and high rates of exposure to infectious disease and other harmful substances. The Bill would correct this unfair treatment. “Nurses are on the front lines of our Health Care System. When we get sick or injured caring for our patients, we should not have to fight to get the healing we need,” CNA President Sandy Reding said. “Our Workers’ Compensation System is currently set up to delay and deny the care Nurses need. We appreciate Senator Arreguín for authoring S.B. 632, which will make it easier for Nurses to heal after getting hurt or sick on the job, instead of wasting our time fighting for the medical and financial support we need.”

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