Workers’ Comp in 2016: A National Perspective

Thomas A. Robinson, at The Workcomp Writer, says that this year was a year of constitutional challenges in workers compensation across the country. With major constitutional challenges in Florida and Oklahoma, and several states considering but not adopting opt out laws Mr. Robinson wonders, could the pendulum be swinging?

It’s likely an oversimplification, but some within the workers’ compensation community say that our world is like a pendulum; it swings back and forth, sometimes favoring the employee, sometimes the employer. Employee-oriented interests appear to have had a good year. They would likely argue that 2016 is a single year and that it comes on the heels of a long period during which employers have been favored. As most of us know, it is often an issue of whose ox is being gored.