YAKIMA, Wash. ? Just last year, Tri-Ply Construction improved its state safety rating to the highest level, but its workers compensation premiums dropped by only 3 cents per hour per employee.
The company?s rates overall have increased from $1.40 to $2.14 an hour per employee over the past decade.
Co-owner Beth Klingele said the system is not only expensive for employers because of benefit levels but doesn?t function that well for workers. Yakima-based Tri-Ply has 50 employees.
?It?s a pretty liberal plan that we have here and that costs money,? Klingele said. ?It?s not real efficient for employees.?
In Olympia, a few local lawmakers are trying to streamline the state?s workers compensation laws, a 102-year-old system that provides compensation for workers injured on the job. In exchange for that no-fault insurance, workers for the most part give up their right to sue their employer.
About the bills
? Senate Bill 5112 would authorize some employers to help process claims, make appointments and schedule vocational assessments, giving the businesses some control over the speed of their injured worker?s compensation claim.
? Senate Bill 5124 would simplify calculation of time-loss benefits ? those paid to an injured worker to make up for their hourly wage ? to a flat rate of 66 2/3 percent of their wages, replacing the current scale that slides based on marital status and number of children.
? Senate Bill 5126 would allow employers or the state to compensate themselves for benefits paid to an injured worker by collecting some of the damages if that worker successfully sues a third party, such as an outside contractor, for an injury.
? Senate Bill 5127 and 5128 would remove age restrictions on workers seeking structured settlements in lieu of claims that may take months or years to finalize. Currently workers must be 55 years old, a threshold that will drop to 50 in 2016.
Leading the reform charge is Sen. Jan?a Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, who has sponsored five bills that she argues would give injured workers more options for how and when they return to work while saving the state and businesses money by reducing costs, and therefore premiums.
In a committee hearing on the measures last week in Olympia, Holmquist Newbry said her goal is to stem rising premiums.
?Our attempt here is to give our injured workers here in the state of Washington as many options and choices as possible, while giving cost-savings tools to Labor and Industries so we can prevent future projected rate increases,? she said.
The senator from the 13th District, which covers portions of Kittitas County, chairs the Senate?s Commerce and Labor Committee, which passed the bills last week to the Senate floor. Senators may vote Monday.
Politically, the proposals and her leadership role on the committee have propelled Holmquist Newbry into the limelight of the Republican majority coalition in the Senate, casting her as a crusader for business.
Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, also is on the committee.
Opponents of the bills counter that they would save money only by reducing the benefits paid to injured workers and giving their supervisors financial incentive to rush them back to work before they are ready.
?We?re obviously opposed to these bills because of their benefit cuts to injured workers and their families,? said David Groves of the Washington State Labor Council.
The bills also disrespect the intention of workers compensation, which is to protect injured workers and spread out risk ? much like an insurance program ? among employers, said Senator Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle.
Saving a few bucks ?is not exactly following the mission of what workers comp is all about, in my opinion,? Hasegawa said in a committee hearing.
The bills come on the heels of substantial changes to workers reform passed in 2011, reforms that were projected to save the system $1.5 billion over four years. Some of those have just recently taken effect and the verdict is still out on how well they will work.
Among the changes were requiring injured workers to see doctors within a state-sanctioned network for assessments, giving injured employees the option of settling before their claim is finished and offering reimbursements to businesses that find new ?light duty? chores for injured workers while they recover.
?We?re still figuring how much it would cost or save and how to implement them,? said Renee Guillierie, a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Industries, the state agency charged with processing claims by injured workers.
For example, an average of 380 workers per month have taken part in the ?stay-and-work? program. That?s much lower the state?s target of 666, according to department statistics, though the agency constantly recalculates goals based on the changing number and severity of the state?s injuries.
This year?s round of bills would expand some of those 2011 changes, give employers more involvement in scheduling their injured workers? medical appointments, allow them to seek refunds if an injured employee successfully sues a third-party and calculate time-loss benefits with a fixed rate instead of the current sliding scale.
How much will they save?
Saving money is crucial when the state faces a $1.1 billion shortfall in the contingency reserve fund, Holmquist Newbry said in committee hearings and a news conference in Olympia.
She did not return repeated requests for a phone interview left with her staff members.
Predictably, the bills are endorsed by trade associations and business owners and opposed by unions and other labor supporters.
?We oppose giving employers more authority over claims,? Rebecca Johnson, government affairs director for the Washington State Labor Council, testified before Holmquist?s committee on Jan. 28. The Council represents 450,000 workers.
?There are too many financial incentives to rush workers through closure,? said David Myers, executive secretary of the Washington Building Trades Union, which represents about 60,000 construction workers, also in the committee hearing.
Other opponents advocate giving the 2011 changes more time first.
?Here we are, one year later, trying to make significant workers? comp reforms while we have major reform ? going on currently on a bill that was passed in 2011,? said Sen. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma.
Holmquist Newbry countered that Republicans had already promised to bring forward more proposals, calling 2011 only the beginning.
?This is not a new idea,? she said in the hearing.
Local business owners supported the last round of reforms and want more change.
The proposals will especially help small business owners, said Mark Peterson, owner of H&H Furniture with shops in Yakima, Toppenish and Sunnyside.
Small business owners usually perform their own human resources, technology and janitorial services. Simplifying the process of workers compensation will ease the workload, he said.
?If the state wants us to hire on more employees, make it easier for us,? Peterson said.
Peterson?s 12 or so employees have avoided long-term injuries, but even minor ones have created more headaches than necessary, he said.
One worker who injured his back lifting a few years ago returned to work the next day but spent about a week in the office before trying to lift furniture again, Peterson said. However, the worker?s Labor and Industries claims processor wanted him to wait a month before coming to work at all to allow time for chiropractic visits and medication.
Injured workers ?should be taken care of, sure,? Peterson said. ?But they want everyone to be some type of victim.?
High premiums not only affect the bottom line but also put state businesses at a disadvantage in the global marketplace, said Jon DeVaney, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers Shippers Association.
?Production costs affect our competitiveness,? DeVaney said.
For example, only 3 percent of Yakima Valley apples are consumed in the state.
?Everyone wants to have a fair system, but we want to have one that?s not significantly more costly than other states,? DeVaney said.
Labor and Industries processors prevented one employee suffering a shoulder injury from working on light duty in the office Woodland Truck Line, said Darlene Johnson, owner of the Woodland trucking firm, even though the employee wanted to.
?It bothers me that it seems everybody thinks an employee is not smart of enough to determine what?s best for him,? she told the Senate committee. ?Honestly, you think you?re smarter than him? You think L&I is smarter than him??
? Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.
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