March 22, 2011

There may be a new middle ground on workers' comp - ESB 5566

The bad ESB 5566 to pressure injured workers to settle for lump-sum payments may have met a counter in a package of bills that came up for a hearing today in House Labor and Workforce Development Committee.

These bills aren’t perfect, but if legislators insist on continuing to pursue cost savings beyond the $218 million already approved this session, these new bills could be a more responsible course of action than dismantling the system, which is what ESB 5566 would do.

The new bills are:
  • HB 2023 that would offset already-paid partial disability awards from the amount of a total disability award, should the injury prove to permanently keep the worker from returning to work.
  • HB 2025 that would freeze the system’s annual cost-of-living adjustments for the 2012 fiscal year.
  • HB 2026 that would create an industrial insurance rainy day fund.
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment Policy

We appreciate our readers and thank you for adding to the discussion. The following guidelines are established to ensure respectful tone in the comments of readers so we can all enjoy the site.

• Keep comments on topic - any comment that appears to be off-topic will be edited or deleted.

• Profanity - we’re PG13 here. Moderate language is allowed, but we reserve the right to edit out anything offensive.

• Personal attacks - personal attacks on the authors or other commentators will result in an immediate ban.

• Editor’s right - While we encourage comments that challenge or offer constructed criticism, we reserve the right to edit or remove any post, and to ban a user.*

• External linking - external links are ok, if they are relevant to the original post and your comment. Simply linking to your own site will be frowned upon.

Final Words

You, and only you, are responsible for your words. Once your comment is submitted, that’s it — you’re immortalized. Think before you submit.

*WFSE members are protected under the following Communications Ethics policy:

Under the provisions of the AFSCME “Bill of Rights for Union Members” regarding communications, “Members shall suffer no impairment of freedom of speech concerning the operations of this union. Active discussion of union affairs shall be encouraged and protected within this organization.”

If you believe your comments were removed unfairly, you may protest the removal of your post to the Communications Committee. Leave your protest at Contact Us on WFSE.org