WCRI: Wisconsin Injured Workers Motivated to Return to Work (Part 1)

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Injured workers in Wisconsin are more motivated to return to work-- thanks to the state's workers' compensation system.

With unemployment numbers high, injured workers face increasing challenges in returning to work.  A study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) titled “Factors Influencing Return to Work for Injured Workers: Lessons From Pennsylvania and Wisconsin” indicates that those two states have reported better return- to- work outcomes compared to other states, even during economic downturn.

This study focuses on “long term unemployed injured workers” (defined as workers who have been out of work for three months or more). These workers, unlike the vast majority of injured workers highly motivated to return to work after an injury, face particular challenges in returning to work – challenges that are even greater considering economic hard times.

The study tried to identify which worker’s compensation systems features facilitated return to work for long-term unemployed injured workers, and which features serve as barriers to return to work for these workers.

 

The Wisconsin Scenario

Earlier research done by WCRI indicated that workers in Wisconsin have higher rates of return to work, and workers tend to return to work sooner than in other states.  The reason: Employer and injured worker motivation to return to work, as well as multiple Wisconsin workers’ compensation system features.

One of the features which encourages return to work  in Wisconsin is the transition between temporary disability and Permanent Partial Disability benefits. Wisconsin encourages incentives for both the worker and the employer to return workers with permanent restrictions to work, and for injured workers to accept offers of legitimate employment.

 

“The Healing Plateau”

 Unlike many other states, Wisconsin’s clear standards for terminating temporary disability benefits encourages return to work.  As they are effectively communicated by employers and insurers, and well understood by injured Continue reading »

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Healthcare Budget Double Talk and the Walker Recall

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Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin

I ordered my “I Recalled Walker” bumper sticker today.  I’m proud to be part of a grassroots campaign to elect a new governor, one who will be more attuned to the needs of Wisconsin workers.  And as delighted as I am that over a million concerned Wisconsin citizens have signed a recall petition, I am also reminded daily of the need to fight against the Koch brothers who are backed by corporate cash.

Injured workers call our office every day indicating they have been denied worker’s compensation benefits, asking about how they can obtain necessary medical treatment.  Now, Governor Walker, in a misguided attempt to balance the budget, wants to cut an additional 50,000 adults from the State’s health care rolls.

In a remarkable display of political doublespeak,  Walker’s administration– which in its fundraising efforts have proudly extolled successful efforts at balancing the budget– quietly indicated to the federal government in December that the State had in fact, a deficit.

Why this duplicity? Because federal law allows Wisconsin to drop medical coverage for adults to save money on health care costs if the State can show it has a deficit.

Dropping over 50,000 adults would obviously but shortsightedly save the State money.  Walker’s administration used a “cash accounting” method in its promotional materials indicating that it will have a balanced budget, but when it reported to the federal government the administration used more generally accepted accounting principles showing debts that include promises to pay in the future.

The net result is that over 50,000 Wisconsinites may now be dropped from State health coverage because Walker’s administration duplicitously told the feds that it had a “budget deficit”.

On behalf of Wisconsin’s injured workers: shame on you, Governor Walker.

 

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Aging “Baby Boomers” and Workers’ Compensation Part 2

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Last week, we started talking about some of the NCCI’s interesting conclusions about the implications of “Baby Boomers” in the workplace (see Part 1 of this article). In today’s post, we discuss these conclusions in more detail.

Recent NCCI stats show that all groups of workers aged 35-64 have similar costs for work-related injury compensation.

The frequency of injury has steadily declined since the mid-1990s, with age group differences in frequency largely eliminated.  The decline in frequency has occurred for all age groups.  The differences among age groups in the early 1990s had almost completely disappeared by 2010.

A longstanding worker’s compensation maxim that “younger workers have much higher injury rates” is no longer true.  For example: the injury rate for workers age 55-64 was 16% lower than the frequency for all workers in the mid-1990s but actually 1% higher in 2010, indicating that the differences have clearly narrowed.

Lastly, in terms of severity of claims, older workers certainly cost more, primarily due to higher wages and increased medical costs for older workers.  The severity of medical costs Continue reading »

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Surprising Findings On Baby Boomers and Worker’s Compensation (part 1)

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You may be surprised to learn that age does not correlate with frequency of injury.

What is the impact on worker’s compensation from aging Baby Boomers who have postponed their retirement, working much longer than the previous generation? In a recent study by the NCCI (National Council Compensation Insurance) some interesting and surprising conclusions resulted. It is not surprising that the number of older workers is increasing. The study looked at the frequency and severity across age groups and tried to identify factors that accounted for the severity of injuries between older and younger workers.

Among the key findings are the following:

  • The major difference among age groups occurs between the 25-34 and the 35-44 age groups. All workers 35-64 appeared to have similar costs per worker. These reassuring findings suggest an aging workforce may have a less negative impact on the lost cost per worker than many analysts originally thought.
  • Many workers’ compensation professionals have the belief that younger workers have a much higher injury rate. That appears not to be true any longer. Differences in frequency by age have virtually disappeared.
  • The major factor involving older workers involves severity. Older workers tend to have more shoulder rotator cuff claims and knee injuries while younger workers have more back and ankle sprains.
  • Higher wages for older workers are a key factor leading to higher costs for older workers. On the medical side, more treatment per claim has increased medical costs.

The study indicated that older workers account for an increasing share of the U. S. workforce. In particular, the share of workers age 55-64 has been growing steadily. The number of workers Continue reading »

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Newt Wants to Replace Wisconsin’s (and every other State’s) Worker’s Compensation Systems

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Newt Gingrich

Basking in the glow of his evangelical-inspired victory in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, Newt Gingrich is trying to unify his disparate assembly of Tea Party malcontents, religious moralists, anti-immigrant reactionaries, and most significantly, “anti-government encroachment” fanatics.

Before his candidacy gains any more momentum, we should look back and reflect on the havoc his positions would create in our current State systems. Governor Rick Perry invited Gingrich to speak to the Republican Governors Association after last November’s Republican landslide. Gingrich decried the “leftist political system that has been dominating America since 1932.” Obviously, his attack is leveled at the New Deal, Great Society systems that provide benefits (he calls them entitlements) for so many– Social Security Disability, Medicare, Equal Rights legislation, etc.

More significantly for the worker’s compensation system, he indicated in his 12 Step Program (sound familiar) that he wanted to replace State’s worker’s compensation programs. In an obvious attack on worker’s compensation attorneys, his plan was to “replace litigation-focused worker’s compensation with a rehabilitation and capabilities focused program that maximizes the speed of helping people medically, and focuses on retraining and focuses on what they can do rather than what they can’t do.”

While the medical end of this aim is laudable, Wisconsin’s system (and many others) currently does focus on retraining and what workers can do following their injury. Wisconsin’s vocational rehabilitation Continue reading »

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Connecting With Peers Energizes

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Last fall I participated in meeting in San Diego with other lawyers who represent injured workers. We are part of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG), a network of like-minded advocates for workers’ rights, sharing information and knowledge, a sense of commitment and kinship, and networking to help each other and our clients.

I made a presentation on Workers’ Compensation Ethics and was challenged by my colleagues penetrating and sometimes perplexing questions and issues. Meetings on a national scale help to provide some perspective on the practice of representing injured workers.

Quite simply in Wisconsin, despite all of our recent problems with Union decertification and benefits rollbacks, we have an exemplary workers’ compensation system. I am routinely bombarded at gatherings, cocktail parties, seminars with stories about workers’ compensation fraud, allegedly perpetrated by workers. One focus of the San Diego conference was on employer and insurer fraud by misrepresenting and misclassifying workers, Continue reading »

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iPads And Workers’ Rights, The Dark Truth

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Recent news sheds light on the dark truth about what it takes to make that shiny new iPad.

“And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China.” Made by an Apple executive, the end statement of a new investigative piece from yesterday’s New York Times perfectly sums up the problem.

Like many people in our country and around the world, I love my Apple products. This article, however, raises some legitimate concerns about the working conditions found in manufacturing facilities in China that supply and produce Apple products, like the iPhone and iPad. With large-scale business, the economic forces push for the production of products faster and cheaper, which can result in worker abuses (long work hours; excessive standing; chemical exposures etc.). The article explains how Apple’s described culture of secrecy (involving the need to surprise the public with the next “latest and greatest” technology) may contribute to the unknown and hidden working conditions at some of its supplier facilities in China.

The public–and potentially even myself–may not want to hear about these potential issues. Ignorance is bliss when using your glossy, new iPhone. While it does appear Apple engages in a good amount of oversight of its suppliers, this article hopefully will shed further light on any potential issues and push Apple to make sure all its products are produced in facilities that protect and value the safety of its workers.

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Workers Beware Questionable (Fraudulent) Employer Tactics

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It's time to start talking about employer fraud.

Over the course of 35 years representing injured workers, I have heard some whoppers – Employers’ questionable tactics that make even my jaw drop. With all the insurance company generated blather about “employee fraud” incidences of employer fraudulent tactics abound. Workers beware of the following:

  • Recorded statements taken by worker’s compensation carrier adjuster while employee is under medication or in the hospital still suffering from the injury. Questions such as “It’s true you had (low back pain, arm pain, fill in the blank pain, etc.) before your work injury, correct? You’ve had lots more pain from (your motor vehicle accident, sports injury, etc.) than you’re experiencing from your work injury, correct?
  • Employer “channeling” a worker to its “Return to Work Clinic” (doctors on company payroll whose opinion is “like some athletic coaches, ‘rub some dirt on it and get back in the game’.”
  • Telling employees to take sick leave rather than claim worker’s compensation.
  • Telling employees to file medical bills under their group insurance, not worker’s comp.
  • Nurse Case Manager who initially befriends the employee but later makes every attempt with the worker’s doctor to prematurely return the worker to the job before a healing occurs.
  • Employer paying worker in cash with no payroll stub (or gives workers a Form 1099 rather than a W-2). Continue reading »
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Unsafe Workplaces Equal More Injuries.

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Unsafe Working ConditionsThe connection between unsafe workplaces and the increased frequency of work injuries seems like a no brainer. A study released by NCCI Holdings indicated worker’s compensation claims rose by 3% during 2010 (the first rise in frequency in over a dozen years). The study attributed the increased frequency to several factors

Because of these repeat violations,OSHA cited United Contracting and placed the firm on its “Severe Violator Enforcement Program”

including increases in employment since the onset of the recession in 2008, workers possibly being less fearful of losing their jobs for filing claims, and a lack of light duty jobs to which injured workers could return because of the poor economy.

One factor not referenced is the connection between increasingly unsafe work environments and work injuries. Two recent news stories in Wisconsin underscored this connection. OSHA fined a Wisconsin contractor $150,000

for violations while working on two bridges along highways in Wisconsin. The violation is more alarming because the contractors were working under a State contract to repaint the bridges. OSHA charged that the company did not have proper scaffolding at the bridges exposing workers to falls, and in fact one worker was injured in June after falling from a scaffold at one of the bridges. Because of these repeat violations, Continue reading »

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