Opting Out of Workers’ Compensation: Corporate America’s Frightening Campaign to Shortchange U.S. Workers

There’s an ominous new development in the ongoing effort by large U.S. employers to deny employees fair compensation for workplace injuries.

According to a recent investigation by National Public Radio and ProPublica.com, some of the biggest companies in corporate America are actively engaged in a comprehensive campaign to get out of state workers’ comp laws.

“Their idea is to let companies simply opt out of the century-old compact between labor and industry and write their own rules for taking care of injured workers,” the report states.

While this trend has not yet impacted Ohio’s workers’ compensation system, the movement is gaining steam in other states, with a goal of passing opt-out laws in a dozen states in the next 10 years. Many of the nation’s biggest employers already opt out in Texas. A law recently went into effect in Oklahoma and lawmakers are considering bills in Tennessee and South Carolina.

NPR and ProPublica evaluated 120 opt-out plans and found shocking ways in which employers are cutting costs by paying much less to injured employees. For example:

• Many companies require workers to report their injuries by the end of their shifts or risk losing all benefits;
• Taco Bell can go with its workers to doctor’s appointments.
• McDonald’s doesn’t cover carpal tunnel injuries.

The investigation found the plans almost universally have lower benefits, more restrictions and virtually no independent oversight.

“Unlike traditional workers’ comp, which guarantees lifetime medical care, the Texas plans cut off treatment after about two years,” ProPublica and NPR report. “They don’t pay compensation for most permanent disabilities and strictly limit payouts for deaths and catastrophic injuries. The list of what the plans don’t cover runs for pages.

“The plans in both Texas and Oklahoma give employers almost complete control over the medical and legal process after workers get injured,” the report continues. “Employers pick the doctors and can have workers examined — and reexamined — as often as they want. And they can settle claims at any time. Workers must accept whatever is offered or lose all benefits. If they wish to appeal, they can — to a committee set up by their employers.”

Plevin & Gallucci strongly condemns this outrageous campaign. The workers’ compensation system was founded on the principal of ensuring fairness both for injured employees and employers. This new campaign could destroy an employer-employee compact that has stood for generations in our nation.

Through our leadership in the American Association for Justice and the Ohio Association for Justice – Plevin & Gallucci managing partner Frank Gallucci is OAJ President – we will actively fight any attempt to prevent injured Ohio workers from receiving the compensation to which they are entitled. We will monitor this movement carefully and provide future updates.