"The workers' compensation program in Utah has been so emasculated that we probably shouldn't have one," according to Patrick J. O'Connor, president of the Injured Workers Association of Utah.
The same things in workers' compensation will continue to happen until there is a change in the state administration, because Gov. Mike Leavitt supported the seven workers' compensation bills that recently were passed by the Legislature, O'Connor said.O'Connor said his association spent $15,000 in advertisements in 1993 in opposition of SB310 that shifted the burden of paying for benefits to permanent totally disabled injured workers from the Employers Reinsurance Fund to employers.
This year, figuring the cause was hopeless with a heavy majority of Republican legislators, his group spent nothing. He was dismayed at the heavy support for the bills by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Workers Compensation Fund of Utah.
"Who will take care of the injured workers?" O'Connor asked. Here is a list of bills the legislators passed concerning workers' compensation:
- SB117 will use .25 percent of the workers' compensation premiums that formerly went into the General Fund to promote safety in the workplace. State Industrial Commissioner Stephen M. Hadley said several agencies and insurance carriers will coordinate their programs.
- SB123 redefines permanent total disability and outlines the requirements a worker must meet to be entitled to compensations following an industrial accident or occupational disease. It also allows for periodic re-evaluation to make certain the disabled person still is entitled to that status.
- SB124 increases the penalty for businesses that don't have workers' compensation insurance to $2,500 or three times the amount of premium the employer would have paid. State officials believe that at any one time, 10 to 15 percent of employers in Utah are without workers' compensation insurance.
- SB125 gives the commission the authority to approve a full and final settlement in disputed workers' compensation claims, as well as undisputed claims. Hadley believes the bill will reduce litigation for the commission.
- SB126 clarifies language about independent contractors and says general contractors have more responsibility to see that their subcontractors have workers' compensation insurance.
- SB127 provides that hospital-based physicians who treat injured workers will be paid the same fees as other physicians. In recent meetings, some people have testified that hospital-based physicians charge higher rates for care.
- SB128 was amended that allows payment of medical benefits to a worker injured because of consuming alcohol or drugs on the job, but no money benefits. Hadley said Utahns want a drug-free work place and they want protection from people who may use alcohol or drugs on the job.
- SB129 would have allowed the Workers' Compensation Fund of Utah to have a pilot program on 24-hour coverage of insurance, but the bill wasn't called for a hearing and it died.
- SB130 deals with mental stress and was amended to say that legal causation required proof of extraordinary mental stress from a sudden stimulus arising predominantly and directly from employment. Alleged discrimination, harassment or unfair labor practices are not reasons for collecting benefits for mental stress.