Cutting protection for workers injured on the job

     Our state’s workers’ compensation system is the only recourse for Iowans injured on the job, but it may soon be turned upside down by bills being pushed through the Legislature.

Iowa’s workers’ compensation system protects those who suffer injury because of their employment. SF 435 makes sweeping changes that cuts the rights of Iowa workers who get injured on the job, discriminates against older Iowa workers, increases hardships of injured workers by delaying their ability to provide for their families, and it rigs the system against Iowa workers and favors corporate America.

     This is another attempt by the Legislature to fix something that isn’t broken. Iowa’s workers’ compensation system earns an “A” grade from the Insurance Journal, and the Iowa Economic Development Authority raves that our state is below average for workers’ compensation premiums.

     In addition, work injury claims are down in Iowa, dropping by 21 percent over the last eight years, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The costs of workplace injury and illness are already borne primarily by injured workers, their families and taxpayers. The bulk of workers’ compensation dollars in Iowa goes to medical providers for care.

     Some of the worst measures in this bill include:

     • Discriminating against older workers. Iowa workers permanently and totally disabled by a work injury prior to age 67 lose their benefits at age 67; and those injured at age 67 or older are limited to 150 weeks of benefits. This leaves taxpayers to pick up the costs.

     • Eliminating protections based on an employee's loss of earning power if the employer returns the injured employee to work for a short time, but then terminates them, leaving them with no compensation for lost access to other employment due to injury.

     • Reducing protections for workers who suffer a shoulder injury, one of the most common work-related injuries. A workers’ loss of earning capacity would no longer be taken into account when calculating benefits for a shoulder injury.

     SF 435 is an overreach that does nothing to help workers or move Iowa’s economy forward.