In the wake of the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor releasing the report on Minnesota workers’ compensation, Representative Tim Mahoney of District 67A discusses on Workday Minnesota that DOLI needs to be more accountable to injured workers. Rep. Mahoney wrote the following:
According to the report, there is as much as $26 million that is either uncollected or unaccounted for from businesses fined for not having workers’ compensation insurance. If the Department of Labor and Industry did a better job collecting money, there would be enough to hire back the investigators who could stay on top of the companies to make sure they are in compliance with the law.
This lax attitude in the program is unfair to workers who are injured on the job, companies who are following the rules and all Minnesota taxpayers. Reform is needed and now. It is time for more oversight to mandate employers are compliant and to ensure workers receive their full benefits. In many cases workers cannot return to the job after the injury. Workers’ compensation is a safety net and workers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to collect the benefits they are rightly owed.
As Rep. Mahoney indicated, injured workers rely on work comp benefits to get themselves back to there pre-injury status. If the insurance company delays or refuses payment of benefits that are legally due, the more likely the injured worker will not get the treatment they need.
Accountability is a must in protecting the injured workers’ right to workers’ compensation.
Commentary: State’s program to help injured workers is badly in need of reform | Workday Minnesota
(photo| Get Pakistan)
