Legislation to reform state workers’ compensation system

The four bills will now move to the Senate for consideration, although they remain works in progress, said Rep. Dan Sullivan, author of the bills.

“Our state’s workers’ compensation system is broken, both for injured workers and businesses paying the insurance premiums,” said Sullivan, R-Tulsa. “We are hopeful that we will be able to put meaningful reforms in place this session that will protect workers, shore up the system, eliminate fraud and reduce costs.”

The legislation seeks to significantly improve employee benefits and lower business expenses, making Oklahoma more attractive to new industries. There is currently deep dissatisfaction with the system, which is plagued by fraud and high costs and rarely produces consistently fair and equitable results.

Despite the benefits specified in state law being comparable to workers’ compensation benefits in other states, the actual cost of those benefits in Oklahoma is the most expensive in the nation.

“The cost of our system puts us at a competitive disadvantage with other states and makes it difficult to attract business to Oklahoma,” said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. “Especially in this economic environment, we must reduce oppressive costs that hurt both business owners and injured workers in this state.”

Some of the reforms being sought will include defining the term “surgery” for purposes of compensation, strengthening the value-added attorney fee provision and capping the time for temporary total disability. A reduction in the number of workers’ compensation judges may also be considered, coupled with a more equitable distribution of judges between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.