Safety and Workers' Compensation Management

Senate Passes Clean Workers’ Comp Budget Bill

This week, the Ohio Senate unanimously passed a stripped-down version of House Bill 80, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) budget bill. During the committee process, the Senate removed all controversial provisions added by the House, returning the bill to its appropriation roots. Among the items the Senate removed were an employee misclassification provision, expanded Workers’ Comp coverage for PTSD, and settlement provisions that were harmful to Ohio’s manufacturers.

The House has yet to vote on concurrence of the Senate amendments. If the House does not concur with the changes, a conference committee will be appointed and would face an extremely tight deadline to reach final approval by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 30.

Late Thursday, Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said the House would prepare a continuing budget resolution — a temporary funding measure — in case House and Senate conferees failed to reach a timely agreement on HB 80 and the mainline state budget (House Bill 166). 6/27/2019

OMA Testifies Against BWC Budget Bill

This week, the OMA testified as an opponent to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) budget bill (House Bill 80), appearing before the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. The bill, as passed by the House, contains a variety of anti-business provisions, including the expansion of workers’ compensation benefits for mental or emotional impairment caused by PTSD for first responders — even in the absence of a physical injury. The Senate has indicated that a new substitute version of the bill will be adopted next week. HB 80 needs to be passed no later than June 30 to ensure continued funding for the BWC. 6/20/2019

Industrial Commission Budget Clears General Assembly

On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed House Bill 79, the Industrial Commission budget. Typically, the Industrial Commission budget is the least controversial of the state’s four budget bills — which also include the transportation, BWC, and main operating bills. This year was no exception as the bill moved through the House and Senate with zero opposition. HB 79 provides the operating funds for the Ohio Industrial Commission, which serves as the adjudicating body for employers and employees on disputed workers’ compensation claims. 6/20/2019

Questions Linger About PTSD Expansion as Senate Takes Up Workers’ Comp Budget

This week, the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee began its work on House Bill 80, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) budget.

As we reported last week, the House-passed version of HB 80 contains a variety of provisions that would be detrimental to Ohio’s business climate. This includes the expansion of workers’ comp benefits for mental or emotional impairment caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for first responders — even when there is no physical injury. Other harmful provisions include restricting an employer’s right to negotiate settlement terms; eliminating the current definition of an employee; and penalizing employers for accidentally misclassifying employees.

At this week’s Senate hearing, bill sponsor Rep. Scott Oelslager provided sponsor testimony and BWC Administrator Stephanie McCloud provided testimony on behalf the BWC. The bill is expected to have multiple hearings over the next week. The OMA and other business allies continue to oppose the bill based on the House’s harmful changes. 6/13/2019

Analysis: Citizenship Provision in Workers’ Comp Budget Could Result in ‘Unintended Consequences’

As previously reported, the Ohio House last week passed its version (House Bill 80) of the state’s workers’ compensation budget, but not before a controversial, immigration-related amendment was added at the last minute. The bill is now before the Senate for consideration.

The OMA’s Connections Partner Franz Ward has analyzed the citizenship provision in HB 80, which would “require injured workers to identify themselves as either a U.S. citizen, non-citizen authorized worker, or an illegal or unauthorized alien when filing a workers’ compensation claim in Ohio.”

According to the firm, “while the amendment does not go so far as to expressly prohibit illegal aliens from receiving workers’ compensation benefits, it does state that claimants who provide false information, including regarding their citizenship status, will be ineligible to receive such benefits and may be prosecuted for workers’ compensation fraud under Ohio law.”

Supporters say “the collected data will be useful in making future law and policy decisions going forward,” while critics worry the language will discourage injury claims by undocumented immigrants, thereby resulting “unintended consequences.” For example, one fear is that undocumented injured workers could “seek out medical treatment in emergency rooms without either health insurance or, due to this amendment, workers’ compensation coverage, resulting in unpaid medical bills and costs getting passed along to Ohio taxpayers and people with health insurance.” 6/11/2019

Free Safety Awareness Materials Now Available

June is National Safety Month — 30 days that have been designed to raise awareness about the leading causes of injury and death at work and elsewhere. To help raise awareness among your employees, the National Safety Council is offering free materials, including posters, tip sheets, articles, special offers, social graphics, and more. Visit the NSC website to receive these free safety-related items. 6/10/2019

House Passes Workers’ Comp Budget with PTSD Expansion

Despite objections raised by business organizations – including the OMA – the House on June 5 passed its version of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) budget under House Bill 80. As passed by the House, the measure would make several changes to Ohio’s BWC law that would negatively affect the business climate, including expanding workers’ comp benefits for mental or emotional impairment caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for first responders, even when there is no physical injury.

HB 80 would create a fundamental shift in Ohio’s workers’ compensation law, which currently requires a physical injury before allowing any mental health claims. Most troubling, it would establish a precedent for future workers’ comp expansion that affects private employers. If this happened, workers’ compensation premiums for Ohio manufacturers would increase dramatically.

Among HB 80’s other changes that would be detrimental to the business community are:

• Restricting an employer’s right to negotiate settlement terms;
• Eliminating the definition of employee for the purposes of workers’ comp, unemployment comp, and tax; and
• Authorizing the bureaucracy to develop its own definition and punitive powers to penalize employers for even mistakenly misclassifying an employee.

Earlier this week, the OMA provided opponent testimony on the bill, and sent a key vote alert to all House members, urging a “no” vote. Now, following its passage in the House, HB 80 will be considered in the Senate. The bill is required to be passed and signed by the governor prior to July 1.

The OMA will continue to advocate for the removal of these harmful provisions in the upper chamber. Members should reach out to their state senator, urging him/her to oppose HB 80 as passed by the House. 6/6/2019

OMA Publishes OSHA Response Guide

To help members understand and react to a variety of OSHA situations, the OMA has created this OSHA Response FAQ publication, authored by OMA Connections Partners Safex and Bricker & Eckler.

Members who buy OMA Workers’ Compensation Services (WCS) will find the guide – and all OMA’s workers’ comp resources – on their WCS Dashboard. Learn more about OMA WCS here. 6/3/2019

BWC Publishes 2019 MCO Report Card

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has created the MCO Report Card so employers can evaluate their managed care organization’s (MCO) performance. MCOs manage the medical portion of a workers’ compensation claim to ensure that injured workers receive quality medical care.

The annual report card provides information on MCOs’ key performance indicators (KPIs) — intended to measure medical management quality, safe return-to-work strategies, and service timeliness. This year’s report card is based on assessments between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2018.

Every two years, during an open enrollment period, employers can choose any MCO that best suits their company’s needs. The next open enrollment period will be in 2020. If you don’t know your MCO, use this BWC Employer/MCO look-up. 6/4/2019

Self-Insured Employer Workshops Set for August

This August, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will offer workshops for self-insuring employers and their representatives. This series will feature panels of experts to discuss relationships and interactions between injured workers and employers to achieve the best results for everyone involved in the claims process. The meetings are set for the following dates:

• Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019, from 10 a.m. to noon (Columbus)
• Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, from 10 a.m. to noon (Cleveland)
• Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019, from 10 a.m. to noon (Cincinnati)

Information regarding past and future workshops is available here. 6/1/2019