Topeka — Injured workers urged lawmakers on Tuesday to approve an increase in benefit caps for workplace injuries, which haven’t been raised in more than two decades.
Delbert Young, who suffered a spinal cord injury in 2006 at Boeing in Wichita, said the maximum workers’ compensation payment of $125,000 for an employee who is permanently and totally disabled fails to sustain a family in today’s economy.
His wife, Shirley Young, said since Young was injured the family’s finances have been devastated because of health care costs and Delbert’s loss of salary.
“We’ve had a hard time since this man has stopped working,” she said as her husband sat beside her in a wheelchair. She asked lawmakers to change the law. “It may not help us ... but, for God’s sake, fix it for the next person.”
In the Kansas workers’ comp system, caps on benefits for total disability, partial disability and total disability over a temporary timeframe haven’t increased since 1987. Meanwhile, the cost of living has nearly doubled.
Senate Bill 258, which was heard by the Senate Commerce Committee, would require the Kansas Department of Labor to adjust the caps on workers’ comp benefits to an amount equal to the Midwest cost of living adjustment.
“The 1987 statutory caps are not only woefully inadequate in today’s economy but woefully unfair and unjust in today’s society,” said state Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka.
Labor groups, trial lawyers and worker advocates testified in support of the bill. But business groups, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, oppose the measure.
The Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City said the measure would create a hardship for businesses.
“Our members are struggling to survive in an unprecedented market downturn and cannot afford rising workers’ compensation costs,” Phil Perry, a spokesman for the Home Builders group, said in prepared testimony.
State Sen. Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, said if the maximum cap is raised “it will put stress on business.”
But Terry Humphrey, president of the Kansas Coalition for Workplace Safety, said Kansas already has among the lowest employer-paid worker’s comp premiums in the nation, and an actuarial study showed that increasing the caps to the cost of living would increase those premiums from a half-percent to 1 percent.
“A very, very modest premium increase is nothing compared to the fact that we have families in our state that haven’t had an adjustment in 22 years,” she said.
Comments
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KS (anonymous) says…
Heck, the home builders use illegals whenever they can. W/C is not a factor. Twenty years is a long time to go between reviews of this. Increase is no doubt needed.
VoiceOfReason (anonymous) says…
This shouldn't be a political issue. i'm a conservative Republican, but the argument that fairly compensating people permanently injured while working for you is too much of an economic hardship for the poor business responsible for the injury, and to hell with the worker, is pathetic. Keep your workplace safe, avoid injuries as much as possible, but, for God's sake, don't treat those who are hurt like just another fixed cost of doing business. if the increase in premiums would devastate your business, you shouldn't be in business, because they're based on your historical injury rates. again, it's just like the recent bailouts...screw the little people to prevent an "economic hardship" for the business.
thepartimarshall (anonymous) says…
It would help if workers comp would quit telling the doctors how to do their jobs or not to do they're jobs as in my case. I have seen some dumb things in my life but none as dumb as my on going case. Its been a year and they have done nothing and keep telling the doctors to say nothing is wrong. I can prove there is. Even got the judge on they're side. He said if it comes back to him he will throw it out.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Getting private insurance companies out this would help, too. Just as with health insurance, these companies profit by NOT paying claims, regardless of what's best for the employee, while extracting maximum premiums from the company they worked for.
cowboy (anonymous) says…
If you have a serious case you may as well hire an attorney for both the employer and the employee cuz you will be caught in a shi$storm .