Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Workers’ Compensation course at the University of Iowa Labor Center in Iowa City. It was two full days of classroom learning and was very valuable. I wanted to share just a little bit of what I brought back with the membership.

As most of you are probably aware, there were changes in the Iowa Workers’ Compensation law that took effect on July 1 of this year with HF518, which was passed along party lines in February. The course discussed these changes. I thought I’d highlight the ones that I think will have the most impact on our members.

One of the biggest changes to the law is in the treatment of shoulder injuries. Injuries prior to July 1, 2017, shoulder injuries were treated as “body as a whole” (BAAW) injuries. With a BAAW injury, the injured worker may be entitled to Industrial Disability compensation if the injury affects his/her ability to make a living. The industrial disability compensation is meant to offset a loss of earning capacity that is due to the injury. With the new law, a shoulder injury is now treated as a Scheduled Member injury. Compensation is limited only to impairment to the shoulder itself, and the injured worker receives nothing for loss of earning capacity. This change can potentially have an impact of tens of thousands of dollars to an injured worker.

Here are a few of the other changes. An injured worker who misses a medical evaluation scheduled by the employer for a work comp injury will forfeit benefits “for the period of the refusal” to submit to an examination. In the prior law, the benefits were only suspended, not forfeited. Another change is in the penalty to the employer for late payments. Prior to the new law, the penalty to the employer for late compensation payments was 10 percent interest. The new law sets the interest rates for late payments significantly lower (currently around 3.5%). This creates a very low incentive for the employer to pay benefits on time. The last change I’ll talk about here is in the evaluation of industrial impairment for BAAW injuries. The new law requires that the number of years an employee can be reasonably expected to work now be considered in the worker’s industrial impairment. What this means in a nutshell is that an older worker would likely receive less compensation for loss of earning capacity than a younger worker with the same injury.

Let me put this legislation into context. Under Iowa’s old workers’ compensation system, insurance companies were making record profits and work comp expenses were at record lows. In 2015, Iowa’s system was given an “A” grade by the R Street Institute’s Insurance Regulation Report Card and ranked number three in the nation. Strengths noted were low politicization, fiscal efficiency, and market competitiveness. Weaknesses were none. Prior to the changes, premiums were low and steady, litigation was rare, and costs and payouts were stable despite rising healthcare costs. Furthermore, no candidate for the Iowa Legislature campaigned on a major overhaul of workers’ comp. This legislation was forced down the throats of Iowa workers by a Republican majority, bought and paid for by corporate interests. It took a system that was designed to equally benefit the worker and the employer, and tilted it heavily in favor of the employer. We need to remember this and other attacks on workers in 2018.

Emily Brannon

P&I Rep