Workplace Safety

It’s not an exaggeration to say that opioid painkillers have been a scourge on society in the past couple decades. In the 1990s, doctors were taught across the country that these dangerous pills weren’t addictive when they were actually one of the most addictive substances on the planet. Addiction rates are still highest in the states where they were prescribed for anything from a slightly sore back to an eye infection. However, for some people, there are really no other options out there, making this a controversial and hotly debated topic for many. Still a popular prescription for many in pain regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong, a tax on them could raise workers premiums across the board.

Money and Addiction

The Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act was recently proposed by 7 senators, and suggested that there should be a 1% tax on each milligram of the active ingredients in the painkillers. This could generate up to $2 billion based on current prescription rates, and the money would paradoxically be designated to building more addiction centers and facilities.

Who Pays It All?

Well, ostensibly it will be the insurance carriers dishing out these potential billions of dollars, which will ultimately cause everyone’s premiums to rise. Of course, workers comp isn’t addressed in the bill as it’s meant to propose a solution for addiction, but it’s not clear if the lawmakers know or even care about the types of ripple effect that will be seen across the board for those who will cover the costs. Medical practitioners often receive major kickbacks from their pharmaceutical partners, and they have no monetary incentive to stop prescribing as they do now. While those who can only take opioids are exempt from the tax (as are cancer and hospice patients), it still means that insurance companies will have to shoulder the burden.

A Change in Behavior

No one knows what this law will do in practice, but it will likely mean that insurance companies may start putting pressure on doctors to start claiming that a patient has no other choice but to be on these particular types of painkillers to avoid the tax. In an ideal world, it will hopefully mean less unnecessary prescriptions which will lead to fewer unnecessary addictions. However, some have speculated that the real problem here will be with rising workers comp costs. Between the people who have chronic back pain and those who experience one-off accidents, there are many people who take these pills and those prices will add up quickly. Talk to your insurance carrier and ask their opinion about the potential act and how it would affect their business and yours.

Not everything is doom and gloom, though it sometimes seems like it that way. People only seem to want to report on the bad stuff, but what they often ignore is how far the world has come. Here’s a look at some of the good things that have come from workers comp and how you can do more to fix the bad.

Getting Necessary Help

Our society is trying to help people who need it, however much we fail or however much people try to take advantage of the system. Our shortcomings are frustrating to no end for honest people who are trying to do the right thing, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the intentions are there and that there has been progress. Before an employee may have lost a leg to a faulty machine, and he would have received a pittance of compensation or perhaps none at all.

Letting Employees Come Back to Their Job

People’s jobs are not just tied up in how much money they make, but in their self worth as a human being. Idle hands makes us feel like we have nothing to contribute to anyone. An employee who lost their job due to an accident has recourse to claim discrimination based on their circumstances, and what’s more, they have the laws in place that are on their side. Being able to come back to their old position without being completely replaced is really a priceless feature in our workers comp system.

A Focus on the Problems

Yes, there are some definitely problems that need to be addressed, but they’re not just being ignored entirely by policy makers. During the election years, there’s a focus on workers comp which sees reforms suggestions and honest discussions about what can be done. There are no federal programs (and few non-federal programs) that anyone can point to and say that they have no flaws or inefficiencies. As long as people are looking at the problem, then there’s every chance that someone will come up with a compromise that works for insurance carriers, lawmakers, company owners, medical practitioners and employees. With the long list of people involved in workers comp and with all of them having wildly different interests and incentives, it’s not wonder we’ve seen as many problems as we have.

Moving Forward

The best thing you can do to continue seeing workers comp as a force of good in your life is to continue to pay attention to and active with what’s happening in your city, state and USA. Voicing your opinion isn’t always easy but staying silent will be worse for everyone involved.

Substance abuse is unfortunately everywhere, and the effects can strike at any time. You can only know so much about your employees, no matter how many checks you put them through before hiring them. If you suspect substance abuse, then you really need to be proactive before someone gets hurt. Whether that’s the person who’s abusing drugs or alcohol or their fellow coworkers, you need to know the truth about this nationwide problem.

The Odds Aren’t in Your Favor

Studies suggest up to half the claims filed for workers compensation come from substance abuse when on the job, and the claims cost twice as much as those who do not take drugs. It also increases the likelihood of violence and other incidents that will inevitably cause your insurance premiums to rise. It’s not that your employees are bad people, but their actions could be erratic and your business is too important to be taken by surprise.

Invoking the Power of Procedure

As much as employees may not love the idea of procedure, it really is helpful if you want to curtail the wrong behavior. Employees get used to routines in both good ways and bad, so if you’re lackadaisical then they might assume there will be few consequences of testing their limits. Aside from paying attention and trying to address problems that may trigger the wrong behavior, like stress or depression in employees, try implementing the following plan instead.

Write It Down: Make sure that your policies are all in place, make people aware and then live by that code. Some rules can be bent for extenuating circumstances, but the less watchful you are, the more likely it is you’ll have a problem.

Training: Supervisors, employees and you will inevitably miss certain things. We’re not all-knowing, but we can be trained to be better attuned to the warning behaviors. No matter what anyone says about an accident happening out of the blue, there were probably a lot of signs that they missed over time. Encourage employees too to come forward when they know things – specially if you’re in an industry with a lot of hazards.

Education: General education about drugs in the workplace heightens awareness and can lead to safer practices. Make people aware of help that they can receive if they’re currently suffering from any type of addiction problems. This also shows the commitment you have to their safety.

Screening: Random checks may be a good way for you to get some peace of mind that you’re doing everything you can to prevent danger from befalling your employees. Ultimately, trust is better between employer and employee, but if the risks are too great then you may want to try this as an option.

When the law sets a precedent for a certain situation in workers comp, it impacts future rates for employers. Recently this was seen in Oklahoma, where the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman who had injured her knee while on the job with Sprint PCS. It will likely cause in jump in rates for everyone.

Understanding her case is the key to understanding the hike in costs. After the worker filed a claim for her knee injury, she received sanctioned medical support from her employer based on current workers compensation laws. After some time passed though, it was clear her knee was never going to be what it was before.

She did come back to work once doctors let her know there wasn’t anything more they could do, but she had difficulty performing her job. At that point she filed an appeal for additional support, but was denied by the lower courts based on the provisions of the laws. She then took it to the Supreme Court where the ruling was reversed and she was granted additional compensation based on her injury.

While this case was judged based on its own merits, it’s easy to see why the scenario could easily repeat itself. Based on the extra money having to be paid out to her, the rates will need to go up to cover these additional expenses. The National Council of Compensation Insurance has already showed the Oklahoma Insurance Department that their loss costs (expenses paid out due to the injured) have increased by about 3.4 percent. This affects all employers, so it’s expected that rates will climb soon.

You may not live in Oklahoma, but it’s important to remember that your rates aren’t just based on what type of company you are or how you choose to run your organization. You can do everything possible to keep workers safe, but there are other factors at play that have nothing to do with you. This is the nature of insurance, and something we all have to contend with in both personal and professional sectors.

This case study is not a reason for you to throw up your hands though. The more you stay involved in what’s happening around you, the more likely it is you’ll see the pitfalls of other employers. For example, you can change safety practices based on how other employees were injured. You’ll also be more prepared with how you prepare your budget when you do see cases like this on the news. For the Sprint employee, her initial denial was ruled unconstitutional, so may also give you an indication of reform to come in the state of Oklahoma.

Injuries can be difficult to define, and it can be hard for people to agree upon both the event in question and the outcome it deserves. Fortunately, we have laws in this country that help settle the debate. However, claims can be filed without employers even realizing that the actual information itself is suspect. Here’s what you need to know about personal injury and a workers compensation claim so you don’t confuse the two.

Personal Injury

Anyone injured due to a 3rd party may be able to file a personal injury claim. Not only can you file for the direct costs of the physical damages, but also for emotional distress as well.

Workers Comp

Workers comp is any injury suffered while on the clock. Those who successfully file a claim generally receive direct costs and possibly disability payments, as well as a potential final settlement in severe cases.

Burden of Proof

The extent you need to produce proof of your claim is different depending on which type you file. For a 3rd party personal injury claim, the injured will need to show there was negligence on the other person’s part as opposed to their own personal mistakes. Workers compensation is generally easier to have approved – even when employers can show the employee was not performing his or her job correctly at the time of the incident. While each state has its own laws and each person has their own interpretation to the laws, these are guidelines to keep in mind.

When Worlds Collide

Sometimes there are cases where a 3rd party causes injury while on duty. In this case, it becomes harder to determine how the case is filed. Because workers comp doesn’t cover any type of emotional damages, the injured can file both claims. However, this is where it gets complicated. Employers may pay out right away to a workers comp party but if the personal injury suit is approved, they may be able to recoup their costs based on the 3rd party settlement. Employees are not supposed to double dip essentially into both the pockets of their employer and the directly responsible party. Lawyers and courts will handle the negotiations in different ways, so having a person on your side who knows the law inside and out is your best bet for this complicated situation.

Keeping Everything Straight

No matter what type of situation you’re involved with, you need to keep clear documentation for the lawyers involved. For this case especially though, there will be plenty of questions about the facts. If you want any hope of recovering the money, then you’ll need the evidence to back everything up.

Some industries are inherently more dangerous than others, and we accept that it will make insurance rates higher for the rest of employers. However, it still benefits you to know when and where rates change based on this, so you can plan for the future of your business. For example, if your city sees the addition of an additional thousand workers to be added to your fire department, you can prepare a budget that takes that into account.

California City Workers

It was recently reported that the costs for injured employees in Santa Monica are on the uptake and do not appear to be slowing down any time soon. It was found that the police and fire departments as well as the city’s bus system were the responsible parties. They saw a 7 percent increase from last year to this year, with a 15% rise in indemnity costs. More than half the cases saw the need for workers to completely abstain from work. This is not surprising for the city, as costs have been rising for quite some time. Between 2014 and 2015, they paid $5 million and then proceeded to increase it to $6 million for the next fiscal year. In the coming year, they’ve budged over double that at $13.8 million. These increases are staggering based on the claims themselves.

The Financial Future

It doesn’t appear that this is sustainable for anyone, and it’s affecting people across the board. Even those who participate in the Self-Insurance Fund to escape the costs of higher premiums are expected to feel it. The 5% projected increase in the financial forecast in Santa Monica for this group will likely end up being much more than that. The open claims are up several million from last year, mainly due to police employees. Many of the closed claims involved putting workers on permanent disability, with the condition that all medical treatments stemming from the injury will be covered for life.

What Can Be Done?

There is only so much you can do if you’re experiencing something similar in your area. For Santa Monica, they’re seeing an aging police force who are unable to keep up with the high-demand nature of their job. While the city is looking into ways to curb costs, it will likely be done on the legal side as opposed to directly working with employers. They want medical care to be accelerated for less downtime from workers as well. Staying informed and sending letters to officials when possible is a smart move when you see costs rising, as well as looking into any type of alternative action as well for insurance plans in your area.

Unfortunately, you can’t actually see chronic pain. You can talk to someone who physically looks fine, yet is claiming they can barely stand up. Since pain is felt differently by different people, medical professionals and laypeople alike have difficulty categorizing and defining the more severe injuries. This leads to confusion and sometimes outright fraud. Let’s look at how pain is defined by using a specific case study.

A Question of Proof

How injured do you have to be to claim injury? Do you have to be constantly writhing in agony or is it only when you make specific motions? These are specific questions that get a bit touchy. Recently, a man who filed for compensation claimed that he needed a wheelchair but was then shown to be out of his home shopping without it (and seemingly without pain) through video surveillance.

They also had him on camera performing a number of other activities as well. He was arrested with the possibility of up to five years in jail. Since the amount paid out due to his injury was more than a half million dollars, it’s certainly brought about some attention in his area of Florida. The man was a deputy there, and was injured when bending to get his laptop from the trunk of his police cruiser in 2007.

After that, he went through surgery and stated that he couldn’t walk, drive or bend, which has then been shown to be false by videos. He states that he had always been consistent in reporting his pain to be inconsistent because no two days are alike. He says that while the video may show him driving and running errands, he can only do so in limited ways. He claims his whole life is a mess, with his job ripped out from under him and expenses piling up. It’s now up for the courts to decide who has the better claim and what will happen.

Employer Tips

No employer wants to follow their employee around constantly to check up on their progress and verify the truth in their claims. Also, it’s difficult to accuse someone who’s experienced severe injuries of trying to game the system. However, sometimes it’s necessary with the case of chronic pain to be more involved. Medical professionals have been shown consistently to raise costs without cause in certain areas where they have direct financial incentives to do so as well.

Through questions and visits, you can start to see the character of the person behind the claim as well as the treatment they’re receiving. If you do suspect foul play on either side, then your insurance company will be more than happy to help. After all, they stand to lose out on fraudulent claims too.

Taking on temporary employees is attractive to businesses because they don’t have to pay full time wages or provide benefits either. There are many risks to taking on these employees though, and some aren’t well known until you’re faced with a problem. You don’t have a chance to really check out their qualifications, and you’re setting them up in an environment where they have to be more or less ready to start the job at the moment they arrive. Even if the have experience in similar situations, your company still has its own quirks and hazards. This increases the likelihood they’ll make a mistake. So what do you need to know about protecting yourself when you’re in need of a little extra help?

The truth of the matter is that when an employee is on your premises, then you are responsible for them. However, if you hire these workers from a temp agency, it can be argued they actually bear some of the responsibility as well. Recently Taylor Farms and the agencies they hired their workers from were both cited during an emergency situation. Workers faced injuries from chlorine gas and the blame was placed on both Taylor Farms and the temp agencies for not preparing the workers to correctly handle matters. Half of their entire workforce was full of temporary employees, so it stands to reason that many of the workers simply didn’t have the time within the organization to go over all of the proper safety security measures for every situation. Again, this is a risk that every company takes who hires temp employees. In California, it’s partially on the agency who actually cuts the checks to care for their employee’s safety too.

It’s a big move around the country to hire lots of temps, but many companies don’t report their numbers, making it difficult to know how the system is really working. While some people laud the temp programs as allowing employees and employers to find the best fit before either take the real plunge, it actually seems more likely that employers would simply rather save on benefit costs and the hassle of firing an employee and risking some sort of unfair treatment claim. Because temps are often left in the dark about how long they’ll be able to keep their job, they’re often in the dark about what their rights are as well.

Your best bet before you hire temporary workers is to go through an agency you trust and to treat them as fairly as possible. Ensure you know the safety precautions the agency takes for their employees and how they screen the people they recommend. If you can, go through a formal interview process with the employee so you can be sure you’re limiting your liability as well.

The healthcare profession has had a lot of attention in this country, and the disparity between the rates of service has been linked to practically every argument about how to compensate doctors while protecting patients as well. Each side claims they’re getting the short end of the stick, and the whole debate becomes very tiresome to both citizens and politicians alike. Workers compensation rates are directly tied to to not just how long your employees aren’t able to work, but how much each injury costs insurance.

It’s rare, but sometimes people lose limbs while they’re on the job in high-risk working conditions. More commonly, people are more likely to claim chronic back pain due to sitting in an air-conditioned office typing at a desk for 8 hours a day. Whatever threats are you on your plate, you should know there are doctors out there who see workers compensation cases primarily as an income booster, and they’ll encourage people’s claims in ways they shouldn’t. These doctors get the same referrals from the same attorneys in the area, and proceed to perform tests and give out excessive disability time. This ultimately doesn’t help the worker because the motivations are centered around greed and not the patient’s actual health. Both the lawyers and medical professionals involved have no reason to complain, but the insurance companies and legitimate doctors in the area are hurt by this as well.

This is why rates will vary in different states depending on how your insurance model works. If your employee visits a doctor and is refused treatment, then your state probably has extremely low reimbursement rates for the hospitals. Legitimate doctors are also turned off by the time delay it takes for someone to review the bill and sign off on the services as well. Having someone perform this service also costs additional funds, which can bring up the rates for the wrong people. Some have proposed that it would actually work better to have more of a network of approved doctors like a group health care plan. This way certain treatments can be pre-authorized and rates could become more standardized.

In states where there have been major reforms, like California, there has been a significant decrease in premiums. If you’re wondering how your rates stack up, your best bet is to keep up with how well your state is doing at managing the laws. If you have seen your premiums only decreasing over the years, then your state is likely implementing better plans to stave off fraud and eliminate intense (and costly) bureaucratic procedures. Workers compensation rates, like the cost of medical care, see huge differences depending on the area.

Worker shortages are tough for every employer. Being too selective may mean you sacrifice your deadlines to ensure you keep your quality, being too welcoming to every candidate could mean the complete reversal where quality is sacrificed instead. However, there are more dangers that come with hiring just anyone off the street – there’s a much higher risk you will be scammed by them or that their inexperience will open you up to a workers comp claim. Here’s what you can do to limit your liability.

Look to the Past

Hopefully you have some experience with worker shortages. You need to draw from your past, and identify the major pitfalls and mistakes that were made when you had a limited pool to select employees from. While you may not have had any claims filed before, you should be able to see the types of situations that arose from the workers’ skills. Were people careless with the equipment? Did they generally need a lot more help to complete their tasks? Were they constantly asking for more money or time off without offering anything in return? These types of workers are most likely to cause you grief later on either through legitimate injuries or fake ones. This should give you an indication of how to best plan divide the workload and immediately catch problems before they start.

Interview With Care

The interview is your first chance to limit your liability. Don’t take it lightly! An interview needs to be about figuring out the responsibility level of your candidate, so they have less chance of being hurt. Accidents can happen to anyone, but some people are more susceptible than others. Ask the questions you care about, and get a sense for how the structure their days. Laziness and carelessness can travel from personal to private life. While a your potential employee isn’t going to admit their flaws, they will reveal clues about their personality right upfront. Don’t ignore your better instincts if you sense there’s a problem.

Get Creative

You need to find ways to advertise your opening everywhere you can: online, on community bulletin boards and through referrals. The more choices you have, the more likely it is you’ll find the people you want. It can be overwhelming to have variety, but ultimately you need it to be successful. You may also want to consider switching up the tasks if you’re still finding it hard to attract good people. If there are less dangerous tasks that can be done to help your best workers, then that could be a new role you carve out. Limit the responsibility of those you might consider at-risk, and you’ll also limit your liability.