Re-injured workers in Kansas endangered by new law

Re-injured workers in Kansas face reduced benefits if a bill approved by the legislature becomes law.

The law would relieve employers from providing coverage for workers who reinjured a pre-existing condition.

The law is supported by employers and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, who don’t believe workers should be paid for injuries not attributable to their current job, although one employer wondered how this could be determined. “Can we have a physician do an analysis and make a professional determination of whether a percentage of that injury was a pre-existing condition?” Gus Rau Meyer, president of Rau Construction Co., told the Kansas City Business Journal.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius opposes the bill, but hasn’t said whether she’ll veto it. She said the state’s worker’s comp premium rates are already the eighth lowest in the nation.

In 1993, the state abolished a fund that paid out reinjury claims, and since then employers have felt they’re unfairly forced to pay for treatment or disability benefits based on injuries not attributable to their jobs. “There are too many times when an injury doesn’t even occur on a job site or a portion of the injury is attributable to the aging process,” said Sen. Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe. “In those circumstances, it should not be the responsibility of the employer to pay 100 percent of the indemnity to the employee.”