Over the weekend, there was an article in the LA Times about athletes and workers’ compensation in California. (I wrote about this issue in August.)

All states allow professional athletes to claim workers’ compensation payments for specific job-related injuries — such as a busted knee, torn tendon or ruptured spinal disc — that happened within their borders. But California is one of the few that provides additional payments for the cumulative effect of injuries that occur over years of playing.

A growing roster of athletes are using this provision in California law to claim benefits. Since the early 1980s, an estimated $747 million has been paid out to about 4,500 players, according to an August study commissioned by major professional sports leagues. California taxpayers are not on the hook for these payments. Workers’ compensation is an employer-funded program.

Now a major battle is brewing in Sacramento to make out-of-state players ineligible for these benefits, which are paid by the leagues and their insurers. . . .

In recent years, many California workers’ compensation judges have held that any athlete who plays professional sports in the state — no matter how briefly — is eligible to receive benefits from employers for so-called cumulative trauma injuries. And because all these leagues have teams in the state, most of their athletes play in California, at least occasionally. . . .

Team owners accuse players of exploiting a legal “loophole” that allows out-of-state retirees to wait years before submitting cumulative trauma claims. Not only are the claims expensive, owners say, but they also hurt California workers by clogging court calendars; furthermore, they could contribute to higher insurance bills for all California employers because more claims leads to higher rates.

The study mentioned is available here. It estimates that ultimate losses from cumulative trauma claims in California “filed and expected to be filed by players who participated in their sport during the past thirty years is $1.573 billion,” of which $747 million represents the losses from claims that have already been filed. Additionally, 78 percent of the estimated losses “come from players associated with lead teams located outside of California.” (In cumulative trauma cases, every team the player was on during his career is listed; the lead team is often the team from which he retired: “Generally, the lead team pays the majority of the settlement, but all teams incur expenses.”)

The study also notes that these claims have a significant impact on workers’ comp premium rates in California. It estimates that cumulative trauma losses could have increased the premium rate change by 1.3 percent in 2011.