« The Rise of Wage and Hour Claims |
Main Blog Page
| Controlling Cost in Iowa Workers' Compensation Claims-"The Mod Factor" »
Thus far, Iowa's legislature has been relatively quiet and does not seem to be pursuing significant revisions or reform to the Iowa workers' compensation scheme. The only bill that I am aware of at the present time with any significant effect on Iowa's workers' compensation system, is House Study Bill 597.
This bill would revise the alloted burial expense from a flat $7,500 to a figure equal to 12 times the statewide average weekly wage. Presumably, the statewide average weekly wage will increse with time and this will serve as some type of inflationary quotient so the death/burial benefits will increase with time as well.
This revision will not make a significant immediate change in the death burial benefits. There are really only a few drawbacks to this statutory proposal. The first is that it creates more of an administrative burden on carriers to investigate and confirm the statewide average weekly wage on the date of death. This can be a bit more tedious if the death occurs around the time that new calculations are published by the state but should be no reason to stop this statutory revision.
The second detriment to this statutory revision is that the statewide weekly wage could hypothetically go down if our state economy moves toward a recession. This would potentially result in less burial benefits being paid to the survivors of an employee killed in the line of duty. This is an unlikely scenario, however, and is no reason to lobby against this statutory revision.
Finally, the statutory revision (like prior versions) creates an arbitrary figure for death benefits. There is no reason that someone that dies on June 30, 2008 should have fewer burial costs that someone that dies on July 1, 2008. However, the worker's compensation statutory scheme is inherently arbitrary in placing a dollar figure on injuries and a death. Again, this may result in strange results if similar cases are considered on back to back days but is not a sufficient reason to challenge or resist this statutory change.
The only alternative that I would recommend is that the death burial benefit could be based upon a percentage of an employee's actual average weekly wage. In other words, it may be more equitable, in my opinion, to base the burial expense on a percentage or multiple of the employee's actual earnings. While those that make more money would receive a higher burial benefit, it is also likely that that those with higher incomes would traditionally be expected to spend more on funerals. In the end, the statutory revision propsoed is probably a postive step and an appropriate statutory revision. I would expect the bill to garner support on both sides of the aisle and pass without significant resistance. More to come if and when the statutory revision is enacted into law.
Posted by William H. Grell on February 8, 2008 4:51 PM
|
Permalink
