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Most Kansas employees are covered by the Workers Compensation system. We, and our families, depend on this system to protect us from
the financial consequences of workplace injuries and illnesses. Our current system offers minimal protection to Kansans who are injured on the job.
A report prepared for The Kansas Coalition for Workplace Safety in 2000 showed that Kansans
have a higher risk of being injured on the job than workers in other states. The incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses in Kansas is above average for most industries, and incidence rates have remained
relatively constant despite measurable improvements nationally.
The above average incidence of occupational illnesses and injuries in
Kansas is compounded by substandard benefits that are well below the national average. According to the report, workers compensation benefits are substandard for all categories of injuries and survivor’s benefits.
In comparison, Kansas employers’ costs for workers compensation are low. Premium costs are
below average and Kansas employers’ workers compensation costs are almost half of the average for the nation and the region.
So the question becomes, how does SB 181 improve the workers compensation system in Kansas?
The answer is simple. The passage of SB181 would further erode the already weakened rights of injured Kansas workers.
This legislation creates a nightmare for the system and injured workers. The issues included within SB
181 have been before the Workers Compensation Advisory Council for over a year. Without consensus and approval, these issues today remain in front of the Advisory Council. The Council has
not considered nor approved SB 181.
Provisions within SB 181 would further reduce protections and benefits to injured workers. For
example, under SB 181, a prior impairment rating, or permanent restrictions would not be needed to prove a pre-existing impairment or disability. This creates a situation where lay testimony and pure
speculation will be used to try to establish a pre-existing impairment. At the present time, some sort of objective evidence must be admitted to establish that a person had a pre-existing disability. That
objectivity will be removed by the amendment proposed in K.S.A. 44-501 (c).
SB 181 eliminates the ability of a worker to provide any meaningful evidence as to how the injury had
affected his life. The same would be true for employers. An employer would not be able to present any evidence as to the work activity of the employee and how it was affected or was not affected by
the injury. The entire controversy would be determined by medical evidence alone. At best, this will
result in pure speculation on the part of medical doctors, and at worst, will result in the inability of the parties to find a reputable physician to render an opinion as to how much impairment or disability
resulted from any one work activity.
SB 181 ignores the fact that Social Security already reduces its benefit if the workers compensation
benefit exceeds a certain level. In addition, this would effectively eliminate the reason to have disability insurance for thousands of hard working Kansans who were smart enough to plan ahead. In
other words, compensation to worker injured on the job will be reduced because that worker had a private pay disability insurance policy. This shift in policy is in not the best interests of our workforce
to pass such legislation.
SB 181 eliminates the basic reason for workers compensation. Workers Compensation was
designed to be a trade-off between employers and employees. Employers agree to pay injured workers compensation in a “no-fault” system and receive immunity from employee lawsuits. In
exchange, employees give up the right to sue their employers. To reduce a person’s compensation for a reason that has absolutely nothing to do with the injury sustained by that person is patently unfair
and against the principles of the Workers Compensation Act.
This legislation also eliminates the right to receive what is known as “work disability.” Essentially, the
legislation would create a “one size fits all” type of compensation. It takes individual justice out of the system and replaces it with one that dehumanizes a work injury victim. This is not the type of justice
that one expects to see in a nation that prides itself on the respect for the individual.
Finally, Subsection (d) on page 9 of SB 181 is equally ill-advised. It indicates that repetitive use,
cumulative traumas or micro-traumas will have three potential dates of accident. Two of those require a physician. A physician must diagnose the condition as work-related or take the employee
off work due to the condition, or restrict that person from performing the work which is the cause of the condition. This language assumes the following:
· The worker is still working for the employer where the injury occurred.
· That an employee will know what his injury is when he reports the problem to the employer.
· That the company doctor will tell the injured worker that it is work-related.
· That the company doctor would take the injured worker off work or restrict the worker from
performing the offending work.
· That appropriate diagnostic tests would be done quickly.
None of the above can be assumed. Many times injured workers are denied appropriate treatment
or any treatment at all. Many times diagnostic test results are not explained to workers in a timely manner. During those times the worker continues to work and gets worse and worse.
In a repetitive trauma case, workers generally do not know when the injury began. In a micro-trauma
case, it is the very fact that it is a micro-trauma that makes it difficult if not impossible for an injured worker to know when he or she was injured. Likewise, it is often impossible for a family practitioner
to know the exact date that an injury occurred.
SB 181 proposes profound changes to our current public policy to the detriment of Kansas
employees and their families who depend on workers compensation for injuries they receive on the job. It eliminates protections for Kansas employees under a system that already exposes them to a
higher risk of being injured and places them at financial risk. We urge you to protect Kansas workers by opposing SB 181.
Thank you for the opportunity to express our strong opposition to SB 181.
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