By Christopher D. Vanderbeek
The Work Loss Data Institute (WLDI) recently released state-by-state workers’ compensation report cards. The report cards incorporate data compiled during the 10-year period from 2000 through 2009. Forty-three states, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, were included in the survey.
The data used in determining states’ grades comes primarily from OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses. Once the data was collected, it was interpreted in terms of the two most significant factors driving the cost of workers’ compensation throughout the US. The first factor is injury/illness outcomes, specifically the success within a state in preventing injuries, and, when they occur, the success in returning the injured worker to health and productive endeavor, thus avoiding prolonged absence and medical treatment costs. The second factor is administrative burden stemming from the accumulation of rules, procedures, disputes, delays, discretionary charges and patterns of practice, including lawsuits, affecting the resolution of claims.
The 2012 WLDI report cards primarily consider the “primary outcome measure” of how quickly workers recover from their injuries/illnesses and return to work. Five different outcome measures are compared among the states for each year:
- Rates of the occurrence of workplace incidents;
- Number of cases in which employees missed work;
- Median duration of disability;
- Instances of “delayed recovery”; and
- Instances of the “key condition,” which for this reporting period was low back strain.
For 2012, Missouri was one of only five states to receive an “A” grade overall. The other four states were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota, and Utah. In addition, the WLDI reports indicated “impressive advancement” for Missouri from 2000 through the present.
Posted by Attorney Christopher D. Vanderbeek. Vanderbeek is involved in the evaluation and defense of workers’ compensation and other insurance claims, protecting the interests of employers and insurers.
02/1/12 8:40 AM
Workers' Compensation | Comment (0) |
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Missouri Receives “A” Grade on State Workers’ Compensation Report Card
By Christopher D. Vanderbeek
Missouri businesses have kicked off 2012 with a legislative measure that is intended to effect comprehensive reform with regard to Missouri workers’ compensation law. The business-backed measure is the coordinated response of Missouri businesses to many recent issues that have surfaced on the state’s legal landscape.
One major issue, the depletion of Missouri’s Second Injury Fund (SIF), arose gradually.
Other issues arose much more suddenly. Specifically, two recent Missouri cases flipped Missouri’s workers’ compensation system on its side by respectively providing:
(a) that an employee can sue a co-employee in civil court for the co-employee’s negligence in causing a workplace injury, and
(b) that an employee can sue his or her employer in civil court for a work-related occupational disease (e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome).
Prior to these court cases, it was believed – and, Missouri businesses argue, the Missouri legislature intended – that the sole venue for a claim based on a work-related injury was the workers’ compensation system.
Missouri businesses have responded by throwing their weight behind SB 572. The bill proposes a plethora of amendments to Chapter 287 of the Missouri’s statutory code, which is informally known as the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Act. Included are several amendments to Section 287.120, otherwise known as the “Exclusivity Clause.” This section was recently cited in the case of State ex rel. KCP & L Greater Missouri Operations Co. v. Cook in support of the argument that employees have the right to sue their employers in civil court for work-related occupational diseases.
Some highlights of the proposed bill:
- Prohibition of occupational disease claims outside the workers’ compensation forum
- Prohibition of negligence-based injury claims against co-employees
- Elimination of a $40-per-week benefit paid to injured workers out of the SIF
- Elimination of benefits paid by the SIF to uninsured employers
- Prohibition of all claims for permanent partial disability (PPD) against the SIF
- Prohibition of all claims by employees not legally entitled to work in the US
- Elimination of benefits for employees who become incarcerated
SB 572 was introduced by Senator Tom Dempsey of the 23rd District of Missouri (St. Charles County). The bill is currently being considered by the Small Business, Insurance, and Industry Committee and was initially presented to the committee on January 10, 2012.
Posted by Attorney Christopher D. Vanderbeek. Vanderbeek is involved in the evaluation and defense of workers’ compensation and other insurance claims, protecting the interests of employers and insurers.
01/16/12 4:33 PM
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New Proposed Bill Would Impact Workers’ Compensation Reform in Missouri
By Christopher D. Vanderbeek
In September 2011, Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals rendered its opinion in State ex rel. KCP & L Greater Missouri Operations Co. v. Cook. The Court ruled that Missouri employees may sue their employers in civil court where they have allegedly suffered an “occupational disease” as a result of their employment. It is important to note that the Court did not bar employees from filing workers’ compensation claims based on occupational diseases. Rather, the Court essentially gave employees with occupational diseases the option of either filing a workers’ compensation claim or filing a civil lawsuit.
Prior to KCP & L, the general understanding among employers, employees, the State of Missouri, and workers’ compensation legal practitioners was that the Missouri workers’ compensation system was the exclusive remedial forum for any claim involving a work-related injury, whether it be a broken arm or lung cancer. This general understanding was derived from Section 287.120 of the Missouri statutory code. Section 287.120 (the “exclusivity provision”) states as follows:
- Every employer subject to the provisions of this chapter shall be liable, irrespective of negligence, to furnish compensation under the provisions of this chapter for personal injury or death of the employee by accident arising out of and in the course of the employee’s employment, and shall be released from all other liability therefor whatsoever, whether to the employee or any other person.
- The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the employee, his wife, her husband, parents, personal representatives, dependents, heirs or next kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such accidental injury or death, except such rights and remedies as are not provided for by this chapter.
The intent behind the exclusivity provisions was that Chapter 287 of the Missouri statutory code would provide the exclusive remedy for all claims based on work injuries. However, the Court in KCP & L exploited an oversight in legislative wording – the legislature only made the workers’ compensation system the exclusive forum for claims based on injuries (or deaths) caused by accidents.
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12/20/11 12:30 PM
Business Law, Employment Law, Workers' Compensation | Comment (0) |
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Employees Can Now Sue for Occupational Diseases: Understanding Breeds a Solution to the Problem
