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Workers in California experiencing injuries at work that result in permanent partial disabilities (PPD) are eligible to receive compensation. The workers' benefits, doctors' and attorneys' fees, and the system that processes the hundreds of thousands of annual claims cost employers billions of dollars each year. This report evaluates the workers' compensation system by examining its efficiency and the adequacy and equity of its benefits, and suggests system reforms. The authors conducted interviews with system participants and found that the system is still troubled by many of the same problems that plagued it before the 1989 and 1993 reforms. It remains overly costly, complex, and litigious while delivering modest benefits. The authors estimated the wage losses of PPD claimants in 1991-93, and found that even after five years, the injured workers earned considerably less than controls. In addition, injured workers experience considerable time out of work, not just immediately after the injury, but also after the initial return to work. The authors identified particular problems among claims categorized by the workers' compensation system as "minor," the vast majority of claims. For this group, wage replacement rates were lowest. Reform proposals include an elective fast track to streamline claims processing, and a revision to the disability rating schedule to improve the relationship between wage loss and benefits paid.
Investigates the adequacy and equity of permanent partial disability benefits and the efficiency of the procedures and standards used to provide these benefits. Includes a Ten-State Study and a summary of a Wage-Loss Study in three of these ten states.
This complete guide for injured workers in California will help injured workers get medical treatment with their own doctor or find another, file claims on time, deal with claims adjusters who don’t want to pay benefits, and get a lump-sum settlement for the highest amount possible.
Workers' compensation systems are designed to provide medical care and indemnity (or wage loss) benefits and to protect workers against medical expenses and income loss that result from workplace injury. Although most workers' compensation claims are for minor injuries that require only medical care, many workplace injuries result in temporary or permanent work disability and earnings losses that can be substantial. Patterns of earnings loss can identify which workers need more attention from policymakers. Earnings loss data are also needed to evaluate benefit adequacy or return-to-work interventions. But post-injury labor market outcomes are not regularly reported in the state of California, impeding monitoring, research, and evaluation. This final report in a series is part of a regular effort to monitor the wage losses of injured workers in the California workers' compensation system between 2013 and 2017. It updates estimates of trends in earnings losses reported in this project's three interim reports and includes analysis of the factors that have driven changes in workers' labor market outcomes from 2005 to 2017. It also provides an investigation of the reasons for regional differences (between Southern California and the rest of the state) in labor market outcomes for workers with cumulative trauma injuries. The report also provides estimates of after-tax wage replacement rates for workers with permanent disability and the first estimates of wage replacement rates in California for workers affected by statutory increases in permanent disability benefits that were adopted as part of major workers' compensation reform legislation enacted in 2012.
Written in layman's terms, not legalese or insurance-speak, this book is designed to help you understand how the Workers' Comp system works and to provide a basic understanding of injury prevention, types of injuries, and cost containment strategies. Although Workers' Comp regulations, procedures, and forms vary from state-to-state, the principles behind the system and the basics of compliance are almost identical. By focusing on these core principles, the author has prepared a guide to the topic which can be used by readers in any state in the nation.
The adequacy of benefits for permanent disability from occupational injuries is a continuing source of controversy among policymakers in California. This book focuses on the economic consequences of disabling injuries and what those outcomes suggest about the current adequacy of workers' compensation in California. In particular, the authors investigate the relationship between losses in earnings from workplace injuries and economic conditions in the state during the 1990s. Although changes in economic conditions had some impact on earnings losses experienced by permanent partial disability claimants, especially less-severely injured workers who are more easily accommodated by their employers, the decline in earnings losses may be more closely related to changes in the workers' compensation market. Even though benefit levels have increased since 1991 and earnings losses have declined, replacement rates for lost income remain below two-thirds of pre-tax wages, the standard commonly cited for adequacy. Because benefits have declined (in inflation-corrected dollars) since their last increase in 1996 and, as of 2001, the economy is headed into a new recession, it is possible that workers injured today will have worse outcomes than workers injured in 1996 or 1997.
Employers that self-insure for workers' compensation have greater incentives than insured employers to return injured employees to work as quickly as possible. And because self-insured firms typically are larger, they often have more opportunities to offer injured workers modified work. This report examines the consequences of a disabling workplace injury for workers at 68 private self-insured employers in California from 1991 through 1995. Using employer-provided data on permanent disability claims, which were then linked to longitudinal data from the state of California on earnings before and after injury, the authors estimate the earnings losses associated with a permanent disability and examine the post-injury employment patterns of permanent disability claimants. They found significant earnings losses for claimants at the self-insured firmsʺmore than 20 percent of earnings over the five years after injury. The authors compared the experiences of workers at self-insured firms with workers at insured firms and found lower proportional losses at self-insured firms, but also slightly lower replacement rates. They also found better return to work at self-insured firms. However, when controlling for pre-injury earnings, industry, and firm size, differences in earnings losses between workers injured at self-insured and insured firms are diminished.
The chapters in this volume were originally presented at a conference to honor Terry Thomason,held at the University of Rhode Island in March, 2004. It is about workplace safety and health and issues related to prevention and compensation for occupational injuries and illnesses, a topicto which Terry devoted much of his research life. The volume is intended to serve as a detailedintroduction to the workers' compensation novice but also provide insights to those more familiarwith the area.