Fix workers' comp

Workers' compensation is an employer-funded program that pays benefits to workers who are injured on the job. A recent 4-3 ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court regarding what happens to benefits after a worker dies has employers and business groups up in arms. The remedy lies in the legislature, which needs to change state law.

The court cited part of the current law that says injury payments cease when an employee dies of an unrelated cause "unless there are surviving dependents at the time of death." In this particular case, a worker who qualified for worker's comp benefits for a permanent and total disability died and left a wife who sued to continue receiving benefits.

In effect, say employers, this means worker's comp has, in some instances at least, turned into a life-insurance program that was not intended. It does not seem reasonable that the state should pay benefits after an injured worker dies if his or her death isn't related to the work injury. It's that simple.

To fix this, legislators should heed the calls of their employer constituents and move hastily to amend the law in question.