California court: Board lacks jurisdiction over ex-NFL player’s claim

A California appeals court Tuesday rejected the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board’s contention that it has jurisdiction over all claims filed by athletes who signed at least one contract in the state.

The board held that the rookie contract Wayne Gandy signed after being drafted by the Los Angeles Rams gave it jurisdiction over the claim of cumulative trauma and occupational disease he filed against the Atlanta Falcons two decades later, according to Atlanta Falcons v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and Wayne Gandy.

The 4th District Court of Appeal said lawmakers enacted legislation in 2013 limiting the ability of professional athletes to pursue comp claims in California if they had little or no connection to the state.

“Under [Labor Code] Sections 3600.5(c) and (d), a professional athlete claiming a cumulative injury who has worked for both a California employer and other employers is exempt from coverage under California’s workers’ compensation law if all the teams in his or her final year of employment as a professional athlete are exempt, unless the athlete worked for fewer than seven total seasons for non-California teams and worked for California teams or in California for at least two seasons or 20% of his or her total career duty days,” the court said. “Under the plain language of Sections 3600.5(c) and (d), a single California contract or a single season of full-time, regular work in California is not, by itself, enough.”

Mr. Gandy started his professional football career in 1994 in California as an offensive tackle for the Rams. The team moved to St. Louis in 1995, where Mr. Gandy played through the 1998 season.

He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1999 to 2003, the New Orleans Saints from 2003 to 2006 and the Atlanta Falcons from 2006 until he retired in 2009.

In 2015 he filed a cumulative trauma claim, initially naming only the Rams as his employer, but he later added the Steelers, Saints and Falcons.

An administrative law judge in 2019 determined that the Falcons were exempt under the 2013 law, but the WCAB, in an opinion and decision after reconsideration, asserted jurisdiction over the claim. The board reasoned that Section 3600.5(a) gives it jurisdiction over any athlete who ever signed a contract in California or signed a contract with a California team. Because Mr. Gandy’s first NFL contract was with a California team, the WCAB said it had jurisdiction to hear the claim.

The appeals court disagreed.

Mr. Gandy last worked for the Falcons in California in November 2008, when the team played the San Diego Chargers. In the year before that game, his total duty days consisted of four games, including the game in San Diego, and 250 days of practice, none of which were in California. Because Mr. Gandy did not have 20% of his duty days in California in the last year of his work and was not in California when he signed his contract with the Falcons, the team is exempt under Section 3600.5(c), the court ruled.

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