New York Workers Compensation Alliance

Below is the New York Workers' Comp Alliance response sent to the Albany Times Union regarding their 9/15/06 editorial on workers' compensation reform in New York:

To the EDITOR:

Your editorial regarding the reasons for workers' compensation reform unfortunately ignores the historical compromise in which employees gave up their common law right to sue their employers for work related accidents.

The New York Workers' Compensation Law, much like Social Security, is social legislation intended to provide a floor of benefits so that disabled workers do not lapse into poverty and become the next wave of welfare recipients. In return for workers giving up their right to sue employers, employers agreed to provide fair medical and wage replacement benefits, sometimes for life if the worker never fully recovers. That was the bargain. If now the powers that be want to scrap that deal, then I'm sure the trial lawyers would love a return to the old lawsuit days. Do we really want to go down that road?

Everyone agrees that we need to reform the workers' compensation system in New York. The business and insurance lobby have prevented injured workers from a raise in compensation benefits for the last 14 years under Governor Pataki. Could you pay your bills today without a raise in 14 years? As for capping permanent partial disabilities, do we really want to treat our injured workers the way Texas does? I think not.

Finally, we need to disabuse the public of the wrong perception, well fueled by the insurance and business lobbies, that workers' compensation costs hurts New York business. Where's the independent study backing this myth up? It simply does not exist. Typically, injured workers are easy whipping boys for powerful insurance and corporate interests in Albany.

Troy Rosasco
Legislative Co-Director
NY Workers' Compensation Alliance

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 Below is the original Albany Times Union editorial from the September 15, 2006 edition:

New York's workers' compensation system is outdated and in desperate need of reform. High costs are pushing some businesses to the breaking point, while injured workers are being shortchanged on weekly benefits compared with compensation rates in other states.  So why isn't reform a priority for the Legislature? The answer is all too apparent to anyone with even a casual knowledge of how things work in the Capitol: Special interest politics -- in this case, unions and legislators who want their votes -- stand in the way of change.

No one is suggesting that workers' compensation be eliminated. To the contrary, the system plays a vital role in paying for the medical costs and lost wages of workers injured on the job. The issue is how those costs are tabulated, and how benefits are disbursed.

A new report, compiled by Frederick Buse, an Albany-based insurance expert, shows how far out of line New York's system is when compared with other states. A story by Jay Gallagher of Gannett News Service, reprinted in the Times Union recently, summarizes Mr. Buse's findings: Based on 2002 data, New York businesses pay some $20,000 for each claim filed, compared to $12,000 for average states. That makes New York's program among the most expensive in the country.

Why? The cause is well known. New York's system awards benefits for life to workers who suffer a partial disability on the job. Other states pay lifetime benefits only for workers who are totally disabled; they cap the number of years a partially disabled worker can collect them. The theory is that partially disabled workers can find other work compatible with their abilities, while permanently disabled employees cannot.

It's not that any injured workers, whether permanently or partially disabled, are getting rich under New York's system. Despite the high cost to businesses of $20,000 per claim, the maximum benefit an injured worker can received is $400 a week. That's the lowest in the nation.

Not surprisingly, unions want the Legislature to raise the weekly benefit. And so do most reform advocates, including Mr. Buse, business leaders and Governor Pataki, who has proposed legislation that would raise the payout to $500 a week. But Mr. Pataki also proposes a trade-off: While the weekly benefit check would increase, there would be a 10-year cap on the number of weeks a worker could collect for permanent partial disability.

That strikes us as a fair balance. As long as New York clings to the outdated system of lifetime benefits for partial injuries, all workers will be shortchanged in their weekly benefits. How is that serving their best interests?

Copyright- Albany Times Union- 9-15-06

You forget, or do not know, the harassment and grief employers put on employees who go out on Workers Compensation. One easy way to equitably save money is to prevent employers from
stalling and thereby trying to 'starve' employees back to work. My condition got worse during the time it took my employer
to stop controverting the case. I wound up with additional problems that would not have existed, if I had been given a prompt MRI and prompt treament; instead of insults, defamation and passive-aggressive game-playing!