Workplace Accidents, Worker’s Comp Cases Decrease While Social Security Increases

A recent study by the National Bureau of Labor and Statistics indicates that the amount of American workers' compensation claims are at their lowest since 2003. At the same time, workplace accidents are  decreasing, according to OSHA. 

Yet, the number of workers receiving social security disability payments continues to rise. 

If the statistics are correct, then the amount of Social Security disability payments should be decreasing, not growing. If workplaces are apparently safer than they’ve ever been, why is there an increase in people obtaining Social Security benefits?

Over the past 10 years, American disability claims have increased by four to five percent yearly. One in twelve workers is now on disability of some form, although high risk workers such as manual laborers have generally been on the decline by eleven percent since 1973.  Social Security is not worker’s compensation.  

It is important to remember that you can obtain Social Security for a number of reasons far outside the scope of California worker’s compensation guidelines. For example, you can obtain Social Security benefits from injuries sustained outside of the workplace, whereas you can't do the same for workers' compensation.

As workers in this country age, the growth of higher disability payments will continue become a major turning point. Employees are working well beyond former retirement cut-off years, and placing themselves at greater risk for injury.  This risk occurs both on and off the job.  

While office jobs get longer and more repetitive in their motion, we’ve seen an increase in the kind of injuries that office workers complain about--injuries that result from repetitive motion, eye strain, and other causes. Employees' activities in their off-work hours may be contributing to these kinds of injuries. To better understand the types of injuries that occur, lawyers and attorneys need to conduct thorough research.

In the meantime, it begs the question of whether or not people have discovered it may be easier to cheat the Social Security system.

Admin. Director of the California Division of Worker’s Compensation Quits

On the eve of new reform legislation to California Worker’s Compensation laws, Rosa Moran resigned as the Administrative Director of the California Division of Workers' Compensation.  After heated negotiations in which Ms. Moran argued on behalf of injured workers’ rights, she will not be there to see the fruits of her effort.  Instead, she will be returning to her position as a Worker’s Compensation judge in the Oakland district office of the Division of Worker’s Compensation.

Rosa Moran’s year term as the head of the California Division of Workers’ Compensation was characterized by a passion for sticking up for the rights of injured workers.  She fought hard to include increases in benefits in the new California legislation, SB 863.  However,  as many California attorneys point out, it’s flawed legislation.  Rosa Moran’s team pushed hard for increases in benefits to permanently injured workers, but the resulting increase is modest at best.  In fact, the legislation has made it harder for injured workers to recover, excluding mental issues and dysfunctions which are often undiagnosed problems associated with injury on the job.  Recovery options for “disproportionate loss of earnings” following a “catastrophic injury” are ill defined at best. 

Perhaps Ms. Moran is continuing the fight from the court bench where she can still stand up for the little guy.  In the coming months and years, the applications of this law will be the real battle ground for injured workers seeking equitable relief.

California Overhauls Workers Compensation Law

On Tuesday, September 18, 2012, CA Governor Jerry Brown signed SB863, the new Worker’s Compensation legislation which significantly reformed California’s Workers’ Compensation Law.  The law, which was passed in California’s legislature last month, was passed by a wide majority.  However, attorneys across the State of California are wondering if the changes are as positive as the State would like everyone to believe. 

The new law has multiple elements including a reduction in insurance premium costs to employers and an increase in payouts to permanently disabled workers injured on the job.  It also amends the law to remove coverage for conditions such as insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and mental health issues unless they are directly related to workplace injuries. 

With cooperation from state labor unions, Governor Jerry Brown discussed substantial revisions to a system plagued by heavy insurance costs, costly litigation, and rising insurance premiums.  The group’s primary goal was to increase permanent disability benefits without raising insurance premiums, which might prove too great a strain to the thousands of small businesses in California.

A recent study out of the University of California at Berkeley found that over the past 8 years, the average benefits paid to workers with permanent disabilities has fallen sharply from $25,000 to $12,000.  The 30% increase in benefits that the revision guarantees is a far cry from the costs that many of these permanently disabled individuals need to live on.  California attorneys argue that the $750 million trust fund the law establishes is not enough and that disabled employees should be entitled to more benefits.

The reduction in coverage remains another troubling element of the new law.  Mental anxiety and depression are severely traumatic problems that many workers experience after a traumatic workplace accident.  And these problems can bleed over into other areas of a person’s life so they experience symptoms that are seemingly unrelated. Many California attorneys argue that this is discrimination against employees who lost their benefits due to a badly crafted law.

The main benefit that Brown’s office touts is a statewide reduction in premiums.  Governor Brown’s office estimates that over the past 2 years, Workers’ Compensation costs have risen significantly from $14.8 billion to $19 billion.  The office estimates that these costs were on track to continue to rise. Under the new law, businesses could save a total of $1 billion next year due to lower premiums. For businesses already feeling the pinch in this economy, these savings are a welcome relief. As an employer, the State of California anticipates a savings of over $40 million a year in insurance premiums with another $170 million in savings to local governments.

Said Governor Brown, “These significant reforms save hundreds of millions of dollars for California’s employers while preventing an imminent crisis of skyrocketing rates that would have hurt both injured workers and businesses.” 

Are these changes really the benefits that Governor Brown wants us to believe they are?