Congressional Democrats Call for Federal Oversight of State WC Programs
Ten federal lawmakers delivered a letter to United States Department of Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez this week calling for the agency to “take a renewed interest in strengthening oversight of state workers’ compensation programs by using the agency’s expertise and authorities.” The letter calls on the Labor Department to provide a report on “how it will reinstitute oversight of state workers’ compensation programs, what areas it intends to address, and whether added authorities are needed to better ensure that the interests of injured workers and taxpayers are protected.”
The October 20, 2015 letter was signed by Senators Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, Ron Wyden, Al Franken, and Sherrod Brown, as well as Representatives Bobby Scott, Chris Van Hollen, Sander Levin, Frederica Wilson, and Xavier Becerra.
The letter is critical of state workers’ compensation programs as well as the interest some states have shown in opening up “opt out” programs to their jurisdictions. Both subjects have been criticized in recent stories published by ProPublica and National Public Radio.
ProPublica claims credit for prompting the letter:
The lawmakers’ letter marks the most significant interest that Congress has shown in workers’ comp since the Labor Department stopped monitoring state laws in 2004. And it comes as Congress debates the solvency of the Social Security Disability trust fund, which is projected to run short of money next year as an increasing number of people receive federal assistance.
Workers’ comp — the nation’s system for dealing with workplace injuries — arose in the early 20th century as tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire brought home the grisly consequences of industrialization. As a compact between labor and industry, workers gave up their right to sue their employers in exchange for a guarantee of prompt medical care and enough of their wages to get by while they recovered.
In 1972, a presidential commission created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act recommended a series of minimum standards that state workers’ comp programs should meet. Fearing that Congress would mandate the standards, nearly every state passed laws to improve their benefits.
For decades, the Labor Department kept track of states’ compliance with the federal recommendations — even though it lacked the authority to take action against states that did not comply. But budget cuts ended that.
ProPublica and NPR’s investigation found that, over the years, states had developed disparate methods for how employers must compensate injured workers and their families. The hodgepodge nature of workers’ comp has resulted in some startling discrepancies. Workers who lose limbs in similar accidents, for example, may receive dramatically different compensation based on which state they work in.
An effort by Congress to wrest control of workers’ compensation programs from the states would set off a federalist battle of epic proportions.
Bloggers Bob Wilson, Dave Depaolo and the Workers’ Compensation news aggregator WCI share their thoughts on the potential impact of federal intervention on state comp programs.
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