Ten Democratic lawmakers are asking the Department of Labor to provide some oversight of state workers compensation cuts. The reality is that people are being shifted onto Social Security disability and onto Medicare. State and federal programs are paying for things that are really the responsibility of employers. This is a disincentive to have a safe workplace. When employers don’t pay the price of the injury they don’t need to spend money to prevent it. It is grossly unfair to shift these costs onto taxpayers.
As this story notes the Burton Commission, in 1972 (appointed by then President Richard Nixon) listed 19 things that every workers compensation system should have. What was once a grand bargain is rapidly becoming a broken promise. We should change the name from “Workers Compensation” to “The Employers Protection Act”.
