* The governor convened his Cabinet yesterday and this was the biggest news from the meeting’s public portion…

Illinois House members will return to Springfield on Thursday and are scheduled to take up a workers’ compensation reform bill.

But even before lawmakers arrive in town, Gov. Bruce Rauner said the bill doesn’t go far enough.

“Our team has very quickly reviewed it,” Rauner said. “I’m sad to say that based upon that review, it’s not real reform. It’s more of the same, more of a phony reform, more of an insignificant reform. We’ve seen this movie before.”

Rather than being an attempt at compromise, Rauner said, the proposed bill will actually cost businesses more in some cases.

* From Lance Trover…

“Unsurprisingly, Speaker Madigan has proposed phony reforms in any effort to protect his special interest allies. His proposal ignores the most important reforms we need for our worker’s compensation system, and in another instance, could actually undermine previous reform efforts. Sadly, this is exactly the type of unserious, political posturing Illinoisans have now come to expect from the Speaker and the politicians he controls. Illinois needs real reform.”

* From the business lobby…

Illinois job creators have consistently called for comprehensive and meaningful reform of the Workers’ Compensation Act that will significantly reduce costs for employers – private and public sector - while protecting the rights of legitimately injured workers and ensuring their access to quality health care. Despite the 2011 reforms, Illinois still has the 7th highest cost of workers’ compensation in the United States and it is consistently cited as one of the primary reasons that companies move out of state or choose not to invest capital and grow jobs in Illinois.

“For House amendments 5, 6, and 7 to HB 1287, we are asking all House lawmakers to vote “No” since these amendments will result in zero savings for employers and likely increase the cost of workers’ compensation.

Amendment 5 simply codifies current law and doubles down on the bad ideas that have been thrust upon Illinois employers by our Courts. Amendment 6 will dramatically increase litigation for employers. Amendment 7 does nothing to decrease workers’ compensation costs, it only duplicates and adds additional regulation on employers.

Illinois employers stand ready to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle.”

Associated Builders & Contractors
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
Home Builders Association of Illinois
Illinois Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Coal Association
Illinois Construction Industry Committee
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association
Illinois Municipal League
Illinois Retail Merchants Association
Illinois Self-Insurers Association
Illinois Trucking Association
Midwest Equipment Dealers Association
Mid-West Truckers Association
National Federation of Independent Business
Technology & Manufacturing Association

* The Illinois Manufacturers Association was more pointed. Here’s it’s analysis…

1) Codify Venture-Newberg – travel must be required or directed by employer or the course or method of travel must be determined by the employer.

Agree but the Democrat language does not fully codify the court case. Since 2007, Illinois Appellate Courts have made seven major rulings dramatically expanding the scope of a “traveling employee.” In the December 2013 in the Venture-Newberg case, the Illinois Supreme Court stepped in and restricted some of the Appellate Court expansion. Employers should not be held responsible for actions of employees engaged in activities out of their scope of employment.

2) Prohibit insurers from using repetitive injuries that occurred within 3 months of the start of employment to determine premiums.

This is part of a discussion that Democrats used in the working group. It seeks to address the issue that an employer is on the hook for repetitive motion injuries when first hiring an employee. However, rather than relieving the employer from paying the medical costs or award, this simply says that an insurer cannot use that information when calculating premiums. This does not address the fact that a hotel should not have to pay for a $100,000 cost of carpal tunnel injury for a maid that worked for only six weeks.

3) Provide greater transparency and oversight of workers’ compensation rates

• Provide for rate review and pre-approval of rates
• Require insurers to justify deviations from advisory rates
• Make information concerning self-insureds available to the public
• Create a task force to look at the issue of premiums not reflecting NCCI recommended decreases (HJR 49)

This is the standard boiler plate talking points from trial lawyers and labor unions that seeks to shift blame rather than looking at why the cost of workers’ compensation is significantly higher in Illinois. Self-insured companies and governments do not use insurance companies so there is no reason why their information would need to be made public. Illinois has a competitive insurance market (health care, workers’ compensation, property & casualty) with generally low rates except for WC. It’s not because of insurance companies – it’s because of the law and court system. If it were truly the case that insurance companies were “gouging” businesses, then you would see a significant difference in WC costs between insured and self-insured companies.

4) Allow the last employer responsible for providing workers’ compensation to seek contributions from prior employers to the extent they contributed to an employer’s injury

Again, this proposal does not help the last employer who still has to pay 100 percent of all medical and indemnity payments to the injured worker. It actually hurts the employer, especially small and mid sized companies who not only have to pay the WC award, they have to hire an attorney to chase previous employers for potential reimbursement.

Discuss.