Court Eases Disability Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — The state Supreme Court gave a generally pro-worker interpretation today to a law changing standards for government employees’ disability benefits, saying a worker must prove only a “real and measurable connection” between the job and the disability.

In its first look at a 1980 state law allowing work-connected disability benefits only if the work “contributes substantially” to the disability, the court rejected arguments by a county retirement board that the “substantial” contribution had to be more than 50%. The previous law had allowed work-connected benefits, which are larger than other disability benefits, if the disability was “a result” of a work-related injury or disease.