Posted on 01/19/2005 7:56:53 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Groups representing attorneys and injured workers filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging state regulations they said would result in big cuts in benefits for employees who suffer disabling injuries on the job.
"The ratings fail to replace workers' pre-injury earnings," said Mark Hayes, president of Voters Injured at Work, a new group that hopes to organize thousands of injured workers into a political force.
"If these drastic reductions take effect, more Californians will lose their cars, their homes and their good credit ... (and) end up on welfare."
Susan Gard, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Workers Compensation, said the regulations were in line with legislation adopted by lawmakers last April to try to reduce employers' workers' comp costs.
"We believe the regulations we wrote reflect the spirit and the letter of the law," she said. "We stand behind them."
But David Schwartz, president of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association, a group of lawyers who represent injured workers, said the regulations "fly in the face" of the legislation.
"There is no legal basis for what she has done," Schwartz said, referring to Andrea Hoch, the division's director.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, also says the regulations violate constitutional requirements for adequate workers' comp benefits.
The new rules alter how doctors rate the severity of workers' job-related disabilities. The severity of the disability determines how much injured workers receive in compensation to help make up for their inability to earn a living.
A study done by a University of California health economics professor and paid for by Schwartz's group shows the regulations would result average benefit cuts of 70 percent, the attorneys said.
The regulations were also criticized last month by Democrats on the Senate Labor and Industrial Committee, who said the April legislation didn't envision the "whole hog" benefit cuts.
The lawsuit follows an earlier attempt by the applicants' attorneys to overturn workers' comp regulations limiting injured workers' choice of doctors. A state appeals court ruled that suit was premature. The attorneys said it would be refiled.
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On the Net: www.dir.ca.gov/dwc, www.denialofcare.org, www.votersinjuredatwork.org
find something stupid, ignorant, expensive and useless ---- and you will find - again! - a lawyer and/or activist judge along with their minions - politicians.
What a surprise!
Sounds like a case of premature adjudication in the briefs filed!
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