Public Employee Press

Workers’ Compensation system needs real reform

Did you know that, according to the New York State Workers’ Compensation system, a rotator cuff is worth 22.5 percent of an arm? How much is an arm worth? Not enough, since the maximum benefit level for totally disabled workers is $400 a week. Of all injured workers in the state, only 3 percent receive that maximum.

Speaking at a conference March 10, DC 37 Political Action Director Wanda Williams pointed out that most people don’t understand the gross inadequacies and complexity of the system until a family member is injured or worse. “Injured on the Job: Protecting Our Right to Fair Workers’ Compensation,” was sponsored by the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, the state AFL-CIO and Cornell University.

The experience of the search and recovery workers suffering from the ill effects of their heroic efforts at the World Trade Center disaster site shows clearly the need to reform the system. Dr. Stephen Levin, principal investigator for the WTC Medical Monitoring Program at Mount Sinai Hospital noted that “many of these workers have filed Workers’ Comp claims, only to find insurance companies fighting their cases and labeling them liars, malingerers, and cheats.”

Conference participants blasted Gov. George Pataki’s “reform” proposal. Attorney Lewis Heller called the bill “44 pages of death notes” and labeled the insurance companies “immoral.” Subsequently, the state Legislature defeated the plan.

Labor has submitted a bill, the Workers’ Compensation and Benefits Improvement Act, in the Senate and the Assembly. A 876-A / S 7810 includes provisions that will streamline the compensation system and bump it into the electronic age.

The labor proposal would steadily raise the maximum benefit in stages from less than 44 percent of the average weekly wage to two-thirds. If passed, this would be the first increase in benefits in 14 years.

“This bill needs to be a priority, and we, the labor movement, need to be at the forefront of this fight,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

— Jane LaTour