February 26, 2007
Did you know...?
Judge upholds Missouri’s workers’ compensation law.
Judge Kinder has upheld a workers’ compensation reform law supported by employers and adopted by the Missouri legislature in 2005. A major change of the law was the modification of the definition of a compensable accident to include events where work is the “prevailing” factor contributing to an injury, instead of a “substantial” factor. Labor unions challenged the legislation in court, claiming that the new law is so unjust the workers’ compensation system no longer provides an exclusive remedy.
The workers' compensation system was created 80 years ago as a way to resolve injury claims through administrative proceedings rather than courts. Republicans overhauled the system in 2005 because of concerns that it had tilted against businesses and was impeding Missouri's economic growth.
The 2005 law generally made it harder to prove injuries are work-related.
More than 70 labor groups sued in late November 2005, claiming the law reduced the rights of employees so greatly that it denied them justice for their injuries - making the administrative compensation system no longer an adequate substitute to the courts.
But Judge Kinder ruled "the Legislature was, and is, free to change the workers' compensation law as it sees fit" - even if it constricted employees' coverage. The judge rejected the labor groups' claims that the law violated their due-process rights.
The lawsuit also had alleged equal rights violations for allegedly discriminating against older workers and others. It claimed that new drug testing policies violated rights against unreasonable searches. And it claimed new legislative and executive branch control over administrative law judges who hear workers' compensation cases violated the constitutional separation of powers.
Kinder rejected all the labor groups' other claims, saying they rested on "hypothetical scenarios" and were not ripe to be decided in court. He also said the labor groups lacked standing to represent people potentially affected because they did not show how the interests they were trying to protect were germane to their organizations.
Governor Blunt said in a written statement that the law had worked as intended. "The decision today affirms what we have said all along about the value of our plan to prevent frivolous lawsuits while protecting workers and creating jobs and economic growth."
On February 13, 2007, Mr. John Boyd (attorney filing on behalf of the Labor Unions) filed his appeal to the Supreme Court of Missouri. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, a Court decision wouldn’t be forthcoming until late Fall (2007).
To track Case 05AC-CC01114: Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans v. Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, point your browser to http://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do.
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