'Workers' comp bill draws the battle lines

April 6, 2004
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer for Tennessean.com

Measure will save jobs, senator says; lobbyist says it's anti-worker

State Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, said his bill would reduce employers' expenses for on-the-job injuries that are partial but permanent by lowering the amount paid if a person goes back to work.

Business groups want limits on the amount of money judges can award to partially disabled workers who return to work and earn as much money, or more, as they did before they were hurt.

The legislation also would give more credence to the treating physician than a consulting physician and would require a mandatory benefits review before a complaint could be litigated.

Norris also fired the first shot in what could be a legislative brawl.

''I know trial lawyers and labor unions oppose my efforts, and I need your help to keep Tennessee competitive,'' Norris said in a printed statement that he released yesterday.

''Governor Bredesen agrees that our ability to keep and attract new jobs in Tennessee depends on our ability to reform the state's workers' compensation laws. The Senate Commerce Committee will begin reviewing this legislation next week.''

A representative of workers and trial lawyers said in response to the statement that he had not seen the bill but knew what was in it.

''Senator Norris is a corporate attorney that works in one of the larger corporate law firms in Shelby County,'' said John Summers, who lobbies for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and for firefighters and service employees. ''Whatever he is proposing will be to the benefit of the corporate interests of the state and to the detriment of the working people.

''Workers' comp affects everyone who works for an employer with five or more employees. None of us gets up and goes to work in the morning thinking we'll be hurt at the job.

''It happens, and it shouldn't be something that devastates our family economically.''

The bill requires the Advisory Council on Workers' Compensation to look at containing medical costs and to make a recommendation to the General Assembly for caps on medical fees by next Jan. 15.

The legislation, Senate Bill 3169, would remove repetitive motion injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome, from problems that are covered under workers' comp. Carpal tunnel involves a pain and sometimes numbness in hands and wrists that affect people who use keyboards, for instance, for long periods of time.

Norris said he was not anti-worker.

''It's important to preserve jobs for working people. At the rate we're going, if we don't adopt reform, there won't be any workers to compensate.''

Manufacturers say Tennessee's workers' comp rates are too high and pinching businesses, while workers' representatives say the state is in the middle of the road when costs are compared with the region and the nation.

Workers say the system is broken — not because it pays too much, but because it's so difficult to tap into.

A joint Senate and House committee is studying the issue to put together its own bill.

Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has said he wants workers' comp legislation this session, ''is still awaiting the joint committee bill, and the legislative leadership assures him the process is going well,'' said Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker. ''That said, the governor will look at any workers' comp (bill) … that is put before him.''