Workers' comp compromise opposed by AIM

Business Today

JEFFERSON CITY -- Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM), which represents approximately 1,500 employers that provide nearly 350,000 Missouri jobs, opposes a workers' compensation compromise that has been brokered in the Legislature.

The compromise absolutely fails the fairness test and will be much too costly for Missouri employers, say AIM officials.

"The current workers' comp system is like playing a baseball game with two strikes against you before you ever pick up the bat," said Gary Marble, president of AIM. "Guess which team wins? The team that gets all three strikes or the employer? It certainly isn't fair."

The proposed compromise increases payments from the workers' comp fund by at least $5 million. It has been suggested this additional cost will deplete the workers' comp fund.

"What happens when the fund is broke? Is it fair to offer employees a benefit that the state cannot afford to deliver?" asked Marble.

"Missouri hands out disability awards almost twice as often as the national average," said Marble. "There are millions of dollars of this money, intended to compensate disabled employees, that the injured employee never sees. If we really want to help employees, let's make sure this system is fair and let's create an economy with new jobs."

The foundation of our court system is fairness, say AIM officials. The workers' comp system has abandoned that tenet of judicial practice. Under current law, Missouri employers enter the courtroom with the deck stacked against them. Work comp law requires the judge to be prejudiced against the employer. This is nearly an insurmountable obstacle to a fair judicial process, AIM officials contend.

"How can we have faith in a system that starts with the presumption an employer is guilty?" asked Jim Kistler, vice president and director of industrial relations for AIM. "Our country is founded on the premise that you are innocent unless and until you are proven guilty.

"Employees and employers deserve a system that is fair and impartial. Associated Industries of Missouri will not agree to a compromise that does not require the judge to decide the case impartially. Anything less is not justice."