Senate Dems Raise Concerns With Workers Comp Guidelines
Oct 17, 2017The 21 members of the mainline Democratic conference in the Senate have signed onto a letter raising concerns with the effort to reform the state’s workers compensation regulations.
The changes, passed in the budget this April, were sought by the business community and are designed to save money when a worker is injured on the job. The agreement in the budget, which had been a negotiating point for state Senate Republicans, was the first workers compensation law change in 10 years.
But labor groups — and Democratic lawmakers — have raised some concerns with how the details of the draft regulations.
“As legislators, we understand the concern of businesses that old regulations may be medically outdated and impose unreasonable costs,” the lawmakers wrote to Workers Compensation Board Chairwoman Clarissa Rodriguez. “Those concerns were balanced against the needs of injured workers in this specific proposal, and taken into consideration with the enactment of other workers’ compensation reforms this year.”
But the Senate Democrats fear the regulations “goes beyond the legislative intent.”
“In many cases, the regulations would wholesale eliminate compensation for seriously injured workers, and improved medical procedures do not justify eliminating the need for compensation for serious injuries,” the letter states. “By placing a substantial number of injuries into categories that presume little to no compensation, the Board has made a policy judgment that exceeds questions of medical improvements and worker healing.”
SDC Workers Compensation Reform Administrative Comment by Nick Reisman on Scribd
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