Missouri House passes workers' comp legislation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Fewer injured Missourians would be eligible for workers' compensation under legislation passed Wednesday by the House.

On a primarily partisan vote of 90-66, House members approved a Republican-backed bill that would go a step further than a Senate version by establishing stricter standards for employees to qualify for compensation. It would also limit attorneys' fees and establish term limits for the judges who decide workers' compensation cases.

Supporters claimed the House version would do more to bring down insurance rates and bring businesses to Missouri.

Democrats charged that the new restrictions would prevent legitimately injured workers from receiving the compensation they deserve and drive them to seek justice in the courts. They also criticized House leaders for rejecting the Senate version, which had won support from unions.

"We all know that in the Senate all of the stakeholders in the workers' compensation debate sat for weeks and weeks and weeks and negotiated in good faith to reach a compromise. That compromise was then taken and torn to shreds and thrown in the wastebasket," said Rep. John Burnett, D-Kansas City.

Restructuring the state's workers' compensation system has been a top priority for Republicans, including Gov. Matt Blunt.

The system was created 80 years ago as a way to resolve injury claims through administrative proceedings rather than the courts. Still, many claims involve lawyers. And even though the number of workers' compensation claims have decreased by 17 percent since 2001, the average cost per claim has continued to rise, according to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would tighten the definition of a workplace injury by requiring work be "the prevailing factor" instead of a "substantial factor" in the injury. The bills also state that if employees suffer an injury while legally drunk on the job, it would be presumed that alcohol caused the accident and they would receive no compensation. The legislation stipulates that claims for compensation must be reviewed impartially instead of giving the benefit of the doubt to the employee. Under current law, claims are supposed to be "liberally construed with a view to the public welfare."

The House bill also requires administrative judges who decide workers' compensation cases to give preference to objective medical findings by a doctor instead of subjective complaints of pain. It also establishes an annual performance audit and 12-year term limits for administrative law judges.

In an effort to bring down attorney involvement, the House version states that injured workers would be eligible for their full settlement from an employer only if they do not have an attorney. The House bill also would limit the fees attorneys could collect in workers' compensation cases.

Rep. Steven Hunter, R-Joplin, who handled the House version, said a review of the bill by the National Council on Compensation Insurance concluded it could cut insurance rates by 6 percent. The council said the Senate bill would have no effect on rates, Hunter said.

"I consider this bill an economic development tool," Hunter said.

But opponents said the legislation would hurt not only employees but also employers by forcing injured workers to file lawsuits to receive compensation.

"There is nothing in this bill that protects employees, and there's nothing in here that protects employers," said Rep. Sara Lampe, D-Springfield.

---

Workers' compensation bill is SB1.

---

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us