The Chicago Tribune recently published an editorial blaming workers injured on the job for the rising cost of workers’ compensation insurance and hampering Illinois businesses. As a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA), we feel this continued assault on innocent injured workers in the name of creating a better business climate in the State of Illinois is reform gone a muck. We urge the citizens of Illinois, our elected officials, and congress persons to reconsider placing the burden of reform on the backs of workers with legitimate and devastating injuries. To this end, ITLA drafted a response to the editorial staff at The Chicago Tribune, which the Tribune chose NOT to run. We felt it was important to share with the public this response and we have copied it below:
Here’s the link to the editorial:
Dear Editor,
Worker safety and well-being should drive any discussion about reforms to
the Illinois workers’ compensation system. Sadly, the Tribune’s recent
editorial (“Repetitive Walking,” June 23, 2012) blamed workers injured on the
job for the cost of workers’ comp, and demanded further curtailment of workers’
already limited rights.
The insurance industry, whose premiums dictate the price of our workers’
comp system, enjoyed a pass from the Tribune’s analysis of last year’s
bipartisan workers’ comp reform law. Insurers are profiting from that new law,
yet any consideration of the exorbitant premiums their industry slaps on Illinois
employers is conspicuously absent from the editorial.
As to the standard that injured workers must meet, the editorial surmises
“work doesn’t have to be the primary cause of an injury for an employee to
collect a payoff,” and that employees have “no requirement to connect the
injury to work.” A simple review of existing law makes clear that a
worker’s injury must occur in the course of employment. Injuries that don’t
occur on the job are not covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act and never have
been.
We agree that any type of fraud in the system - either by employers or
employees - needs to stop. Any fraud within the Illinois workers’ comp system
is an unfair drain on employers and taxpayers and it needs to be eliminated to
reduce costs. We support more oversight and empowering the appropriate
authorities to crack down on abusers. Reform should not be at the expense of
those injured on the job.
The goal of last year’s overhaul was to protect workers’ rights while
reducing costs for employers, and many employers supported passage of that
law. In any rewrite of the law, Illinois lawmakers should look closely at
the insurance industry’s lack of regulation. Insurance reform, not further
diminishment of injured workers’ rights, is the key to further reducing
employers’ workers’ comp costs.
Gregory L.
Shevlin
President – Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
President – Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
