* Yikes…
The House’s research and appropriations unit [Democrats] estimates 12-13 percent of state workers, at some point, file a workers compensation claim.
Either the state is a horrible employer that fails to pay attention to worker safety, or workers are abusing the system. The Speaker thinks it could be the latter…
“Given that statistic, my concern is that there’s a culture or environment among some state workers that would encourage workers compensation claims when they’re really not warranted,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
His approp director suggests it could be the former…
John Lowder, director of the House research and appropriations unit, said there could be more attention to detail if a private company was hired.
“I would think they would be more thoroughly researched to determine what caused the injury, what can we do to lessen the injury and what we can do to lessen the claims,” Lowder said.
*** UPDATE *** From AFSCME…
Because the Speaker’s staff has refused repeated requests to share the material referenced at a recent hearing, we have not been able to review it or assess its validity. We have no way of knowing what assertions it makes or what data such assertions may be based on.
With regard to this issue in general, it is important to consider the very high proportion of state employees who work in uniquely physical, strenuous or dangerous occupations, such as in prisons, on highways, in psychiatric hospitals, law enforcement, developmental centers and veterans homes to name just a few.
We do not know whether the data includes analysis of comparable state employees in other states.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn touted the creation of a whole bunch of well-paying union jobs today. From a press release…
Governor Pat Quinn today announced an agreement between Rock Island Clean Line LLC and Flora, Illinois-based Southwire Company that will support wind turbine and transmission manufacturing in Illinois and create 1,450 union construction jobs under a project labor agreement in Illinois over a three-year construction period. The agreement supports Governor Quinn’s commitment to growing the renewable energy sector in Illinois and continues Illinois’ leadership in the green economy. The governor announced the agreement after delivering the keynote address at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Regional Wind Energy Summit held today in Chicago.
“Illinois is a leader in the renewable energy sector, and agreements like these are helping make Illinois even more competitive,” Governor Quinn said. “These cutting-edge projects will help maintain Illinois’ national leadership in wind energy and manufacturing, and create good paying, home-grown jobs.”
Under the agreement, Southwire will supply the overhead transmission cable for the Rock Island Clean Line project. This project will consist of approximately 500-mile overhead, high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line that will deliver 3,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable power from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota to communities and businesses in Illinois and other states to the east. Construction of the Rock Island Clean Line could begin as early as 2014 and continue over the next few years.
* But as the AP reports, it’s tough for some manufacturers to fill their jobs…
Nationwide, an estimated 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled, according to a survey by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute published last year. Manufacturers expect the shortage to worsen in the next three to five years as older workers retire.
“Exacerbating the issue is the stubbornly poor perception of manufacturing jobs among younger workers,” the report says, adding that manufacturing ranks at the bottom of industries in which young workers would chose to start their careers. […]
In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn is supporting manufacturing by pledging incentives to retain or expand the employee base for such companies as Ford Motor Co., truck- and engine-maker Navistar International Corp. and Excel. Aides said Quinn’s strategy to help the industry includes investments in roads and a push to streamline regulation, such as last year’s overhaul of the workers’ compensation system.
* In other news, some nursing homes have apparently found a loophole in state law that lets them avoid hiring higher-priced nurses…
But the 2010 legislation does not distinguish between registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), who do not have to undergo as much training as RNs. A new rule expected to come up Tuesday before the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules would require facilities to use RNs for 20 percent of direct care.
Lawmakers who worked on the reforms said that was their intent. “There can be no true nursing home reform without addressing the issue of RN staffing ratios,” says Sen. Jacqueline Collins, a Democrat from Chicago, in a prepared statement.
However, many for profit nursing homes argue that they cannot afford to hire enough RNs to fulfill such a demand. “We are not against improving staffing, but we are against putting in a requirement that sets nursing homes up to fail,” Pat Comstock, executive director of the Health Care Council of Illinois, told the State Journal-Register. Comstock did not return a call from Illinois Issues.
Sen. Heather Steans, who was a sponsor of the reforms, said that a revenue stream was built in to pay for higher staffing levels. “I very much urge the JCAR members to support and pass the rule. I think it will very much help improve the quality of care in our nursing homes. We also passed the bed tax, which was primarily to fund the increased staffing we are putting into place, so funding has been put in place for that,” Steans said.
*** UPDATE *** The proposed nurse staffing rules were voted down by the committee.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Roundup…
* Trustees give Hogan a task: Restore trust
* Trustees Tell U Of I President To Mend Fences With Faculty
* Editorial: The Illini play defense
* Illinois lawmakers back to work, then off for election
* Editorial: Don’t end employees’ waivers for tuition
* Cahnman: Do away with state legislators’ pensions
* 800 rally to stop closure of Dwight prison
* Report: Closing Dwight Correctional Center could cost area $45M
* Quinn, don’t take us back to ‘bad old days’ in prison system
- Bunny - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:18 pm:
12-13% of State workers file a comp. claim…what is the percentage of workers who file a comp. claim in the private sector, don’t you have to look at those numbers as well to come to the conclusion that State workers file claims at a higher rate?
- cermak_rd - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:35 pm:
I can see why younger workers would have a dim view of manufacturing. After all, there’s a strong memory of the first waves of off-shoring. “Foreman says these jobs are going boys. And they aren’t coming back to your hometown.”
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:40 pm:
Looks like the lobbyists win again re: Nursing Home Rules. I’m so glad companies can make a profit off of the sickness of others. And people say our health care system doesn’t need reformed. Anybody that makes a profit off of the ill health of another should be absolutely ashamed of themself.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:44 pm:
I’d say that both Lowder and Madigan have a point, to a degree.
But it gets back to a bigger point about performance-based budgeting and Budgeting for Results.
Private companies like Caterpillar have excelled at reducing their injury rates — without special legislation — because they understand that those costs impact the cost of their products and their economic sustainability.
Non-profit organizations, especially those that deliver mental health services, institutionalized care for state wards, and other riskier services, also work hard to reduce injury rates because the nature of their contracts requires them too.
However, workers compensation claims at the Department of Corrections don’t come out of IDOC’s budget. They come out of the budget for CMS.
IDOC and other state agencies have no financial incentive to improve workplace safety. Nor do they have any motivation to reduce fraudulent claims.
Nor, for that matter, are work comp costs included in performance-based budgeting calculations to determine the most cost-effective way of delivering measurable outcomes.
If state government wants to fix this problem, the solution is quite simple.
CMS should start charging back to agencies for worker’s comp costs, and those should be reflected in the agency budgets so that they are transparent.
Trust me, when the head of IDOC sees that injury claims are costing his agency $40 million or whatever a year, he or she will fix them.
The whole point of the work comp system is, after all, to ensure that the costs of work place injuries is reflected in the cost-of-doing-business.
Mischief managed. No legislation required.
Next!
- buck - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:46 pm:
What about undertakers?
- NH Insider - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:47 pm:
Nursing home reform isn’t going to happen as long as the industry and its’ PACs keep contributing at today’s pace. Follow the money. Look at the PAC reports and nursing home cost reports. High Medicaid nursing homes are not hurting. Nursing home residents don’t have a PAC. Thanks to AARP, ICBC and Life Services Network for supporting the higher nurse staffing requirements. Please keep trying.
- Honestly - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:52 pm:
The Speaker overlooks the two facts; first that the state’s mismanagement creates a poor overall workplace including poor health and safety, and two, the state denies a significant number of those workers comp claims.
Also over the past several years, the state refused hundreds of thousand of dollars in grant funds from the US Department of Labor.
- Ahoy - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 12:59 pm:
–Either the state is a horrible employer that fails to pay attention to worker safety, or workers are abusing the system.–
We also have very loose causation language that allows more employees (private and public) to file for workers compensation. It might be best to tackle the law as well as workplace safety and case mangagment.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 1:08 pm:
@Ahoy -
There is NOTHING wrong with Illinois’ causation language.
Go read Caterpillar’s own Sustainability report.
They reduced their workplace injury rate from 6.06 to 1.18 (per 200,000 manhours) in just seven years, with most of the savings coming in the first couple of years.
How? Here’s how:
“Vision Zero (established in 2003): We are committed to creating a zero-injury workplace.
We continue to maintain a strong focus on personal safety and strive for zero injuries.
40% of our facilities reached zero recordable injuries.”
It ain’t rocket science. It just requires goal-setting, prioritizing and resourcing your priorities.
You know: Budgeting for Results.
- Irish - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 1:15 pm:
One variable that has not been mentioned is that the State thumbs it’s nose at Dept of Labor and OSHA laws and guidelines. I would guess that a majority of state facilities would miserably fail if they were held to the same standard as private employers. The excuse that “We have no money to comply.” is used many many times. And state employees are operating severely outdated equipment held together by hope and a prayer, and they are trying to do jobs with rube goldberg fabricated devices because there is not money for the proper equipment.
- zatoichi - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 2:05 pm:
Does the state have NCCI mod rates for the various departments? If MJM wants to dig deeper into claims, just move funds from CMS to the departments, have the departments pay their own comp bills from their own budget, and be able to keep the differences. You save money on work comp, you have more money to work with. We go over every detail of claims and provide a lot of training/support for employees. Get tossed in the work comp pool a couple of times at much higher rates and any company will do what it needs to to cut the injuries.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 2:07 pm:
AFSMCE might want to read the excellent reporting the Belleville News Democrat has been doing on abuse of workers comp by state employees — and arbitrators. Pick your fights wisely, gang.
- lincoln's beard - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 2:07 pm:
Just for comparison, according to the Annual Report of New York State Government Employees’ Workers’ Compensation Claims for FY 2010/2011 (http://www.cs.ny.gov/pio/information.cfm), the State of New York saw a 10.3% incidence rate in 2010/2011.
- Ahoy - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 2:58 pm:
Yellow Dog Democrat,
That’s your opinion which is fine, but you’re quoting Caterpillar who is lobbying for…. changes to Illinois’ Causation Language. Why? Because they know firsthand the kind of difference in makes in other states.
As for your other points on “goal-setting, prioritizing and resourcing your priorities” you’re absolutely right, that’s why I said the State should tackle three issues, Causation, workplace safety and case management.
- mark walker - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 3:15 pm:
YDD is right. Get better management and financial accountability closer to the problem.
- Name Withheld - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 3:21 pm:
How many employees does that 12-13 percent represent? Is that 500 people? 50,000 people?
Percentages are funny things when taken out of context. Did our income tax increase by 66% or just by 2% (from 3% to 5%). One way makes it sound huge (my god! 66% increase!!!) and the other makes it sound tiny (oh, it only went up by 2%). Context matters.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 3:26 pm:
For State WC claims you see poor attempts to return to work, poor defense of claims by CMS and the AG office. No real efforts are made for safety improvements and there are no incentives for improvement.
This is also true for City of Chicago which does a worse job. In fact most governmental units who use private claims adjusters and attorneys are overly combative and litigious, resulting in delayed treatment, surgery and rehab, meaning they pay out more money for lost time and medical bills for being unreasonable.
I know. Been there. Done that. Still a comp attorney.
Moving claims to the private sector will save the State money in the short term. Moving claims to adjusters and attorneys who specialise
- Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 3:26 pm:
For State WC claims you see poor attempts to return to work, poor defense of claims by CMS and the AG office. No real efforts are made for safety improvements and there are no incentives for improvement.
This is also true for City of Chicago which does a worse job. In fact most governmental units who use private claims adjusters and attorneys are overly combative and litigious, resulting in delayed treatment, surgery and rehab, meaning they pay out more money for lost time and medical bills for being unreasonable.
I know. Been there. Done that. Still a comp attorney.
Moving claims to the private sector will save the State money in the short term. Moving claims to adjusters and attorneys who specialise
- Cal Skinner - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 4:10 pm:
- Name Withheld needs to go back to junior high school math class.
Two percentage points divided by three percentage points is 66%, not 2%.
- Name Withheld - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 4:15 pm:
Cal Skinner - you may be right, but that irrelevant to the question I posed: What’s the context of the 12-13%?
- Name Withheld - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 4:21 pm:
Sorry - accidentally hit ENTER.
What’s the context of the 12-13% How many people does it represent?
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 5:06 pm:
@Ahoy-
CAT is lobbying for changes in work comp because their insurance rate is based on claims paid across the entire sector, and the last thing they want to do is point out that there are a whole bunch of unsafe manufacturing workplaces in Illinois.
Illinois has already addressed causation. What your calling “causation” is a push to move from a no-fault system to a liability system. Which Rep Bradley proposed: its called abolishing work comp. I dont recall anyone in the private sector being in favor.
Case management? Absolutely. Why CMS isnt doing that now astounds me.
- Quinn T. Sential - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 5:18 pm:
{John Lowder, director of the House research and appropriations unit, said there could be more attention to detail if a private company was hired.
“I would think they would be more thoroughly researched to determine what caused the injury, what can we do to lessen the injury and what we can do to lessen the claims,” Lowder said.}
First; Lowder exposes part of the problem in that; claims review should be part of SOP’s, and causation and trend analysis should have been ongoing as normal practice for decades now. If it is not then poor management is indded a significant contributing factor.
Second, he seems to miss one important point altogether, and that is risk management strategies that will avoid the injuries in the first place. His proposed solutions all seem reactive rather than proactive, and you don’t need some private sector consultant to do that.
- Ain't No Justice - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 5:34 pm:
On the legis pensions, Cahnman is correct! How many part time jobs get that sweet of a deal? None! They spend us into this mess and know they will not be layed off or their pay cut. They get so many perks now that are ridiculous; like running red lights, excused for speeding, etc. I don’t care for Cahnman but he is right on the money. Sadly, not one legislator has the guts or moral fortitude to do what is right!
- State Worker - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 6:44 pm:
If they cared that much about us working in prisons and mental facilities under these dangerous conditions they’d hire the proper amount of staff to keep us safe. I guess workers comp money is cheaper. Must come from another fund.
- Retired Non-Union Guy - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 7:49 pm:
Based on personal experience, the State doesn’t always do a good job about workplace safety. The one time I was injured, it was because the State parking lot and sidewalk were ice covered. There was a building maintenance crew on duty 24/7 but the area wasn’t properly cleared. I slipped, fell and injured my ankle (which is aching as I type this and has ached off and on the past 20 years). These days I walk with a limp from it. I did get my medical bills paid but, unlike a lot of employees, I didn’t get anything else because the State conveniently “lost” the paperwork. Other people in the building with a similar injury (tripped over an exposed cord) got awarded $500K back when that was serious money.
- Anon - Tuesday, Mar 6, 12 @ 11:32 pm:
I’d be interested in knowing what percentage of the workers comp claims were for mental health related issues rather than physical injuries. Also, how many were for things like carpal tunnel injuries rather than injuries for which a definitive diagnosis is possible? In other words, how many are for injuries that can be faked and how many are for verifiable injuries that show up on MRIs or x-rays?
- ironman - Wednesday, Mar 7, 12 @ 8:10 am:
Let mr give you alittle insight. I have worked for dhs for 24 years. Many years ago, whrn wr would get minor injuries, we would not even think about reporting it.then when Blago was elected, they made us fill out every injury, including if you think you might be hurt..so i blame the administration for the increase..i remember getting hit and keep on working. Now you fill out papers, get 5 service connected days off and get paid..