Pennsylvania employers will save hundreds of millions in increased insurance costs under a new bill signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in October.
The Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association strongly supported House Bill 1840, which will bring the commonwealth’s workers’ compensation law into compliance with a recent state Supreme Court decision.
The decision centered around the use of so-called impairment rating evaluations, or IREs. Instituted in 1996, IREs allowed employers to cap benefits to injured workers
Last year, the state Supreme Court struck down the use of IREs. Employers were able to move employees from total disability to partial disability if an independent doctor assessed their disability at less than 50 percent total body impairment. Pennsylvania caps partial disability payments at 500 weeks, while total disability payments have no cap.
Without IREs, employers are seeing rising costs for workers’ compensation coverage and Wolf’s signing of HB 1840, sponsored by state Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-89, now restores those IREs.
“Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation system is a costly requirement that employers across the state contribute to each year,” Rep. Kauffman said when introducing the bill. “In order to make sure the system is helping those injured on the job, while still keeping costs in check, I have authored legislation that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in relief from Workers’ Compensation costs for Pennsylvania employers.
“Based on a technicality, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gutted a major cost savings provision last year that was originally enacted in the 1990s. My bill restores that provision in a manner that complies with the court’s ruling. This legislation will protect workers and save employers and the state millions of dollars.”
The new law will provide fair compensation for workers and increase the burial benefits for victims of workplace fatalities from $3,000 to $7,000. However, the major component would reduce workers’ compensation costs for employers by hundreds of millions of dollars.
“This has been a major issue for Pennsylvania’s business community, which was being unfairly impacted by the court’s decision,” said Rep. Kauffman. “We need to work with our business community in order to retain and create more jobs here in the Commonwealth. By enacting pro-business legislation, we are also helping workers and the families they support.”
The Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association strongly supported House Bill 1840, which will bring the commonwealth’s workers’ compensation law into compliance with a recent state Supreme Court decision.
The decision centered around the use of so-called impairment rating evaluations, or IREs. Instituted in 1996, IREs allowed employers to cap benefits to injured workers
Last year, the state Supreme Court struck down the use of IREs. Employers were able to move employees from total disability to partial disability if an independent doctor assessed their disability at less than 50 percent total body impairment. Pennsylvania caps partial disability payments at 500 weeks, while total disability payments have no cap.
Without IREs, employers are seeing rising costs for workers’ compensation coverage and Wolf’s signing of HB 1840, sponsored by state Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-89, now restores those IREs.
“Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation system is a costly requirement that employers across the state contribute to each year,” Rep. Kauffman said when introducing the bill. “In order to make sure the system is helping those injured on the job, while still keeping costs in check, I have authored legislation that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in relief from Workers’ Compensation costs for Pennsylvania employers.
“Based on a technicality, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gutted a major cost savings provision last year that was originally enacted in the 1990s. My bill restores that provision in a manner that complies with the court’s ruling. This legislation will protect workers and save employers and the state millions of dollars.”
The new law will provide fair compensation for workers and increase the burial benefits for victims of workplace fatalities from $3,000 to $7,000. However, the major component would reduce workers’ compensation costs for employers by hundreds of millions of dollars.
“This has been a major issue for Pennsylvania’s business community, which was being unfairly impacted by the court’s decision,” said Rep. Kauffman. “We need to work with our business community in order to retain and create more jobs here in the Commonwealth. By enacting pro-business legislation, we are also helping workers and the families they support.”
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