LOBBYIST SAYS WORKER COMP TO GET A TASK FORCE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992                   TAG: 9202280141
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
LOBBYIST SAYS WORKER COMP TO GET A TASK FORCE
Gov. Douglas Wilder will appoint a task force to study reform of Virginia's worker compensation laws, according to a lobbyist for a citizens' group that advocates reform of state regulations. A formal announcement has not been made in Richmond.
Gary Kendall, a Charlottesville lawyer and counsel for the Concerned Citizens to Improve Workers' Compensation Laws, told the organization Thursday night that selection of the panel probably was held up by the crush of bond bills and other legislation in the General Assembly.
Several worker compensation bills were carried over to the 1993 session following a report by Del. Joan Munford that Wilder would name a task force, Kendall said. Munford, a Democrat from Blacksburg, heads the House Labor and Commerce Committee. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The state's worker compensation system needs overhauling - it's a Model T and a spaceship is needed, Kendall said.
He told the group that the laws are outdated in procedure and substance. They were designed for a worker to act without an attorney, virtually an impossibility today, he said.
Representatives of labor unions have some creative ideas that would make worker compensation costs cheaper for employers and make things better for employees, Kendall said.
Other states have different approaches to worker compensation. Ohio, for example, has a state fund, financed like the unemployment compensation system, he said.
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 48 percent of worker injuries are from cumulative trauma such as carpal tunnel syndrome, which occurs over a period of time, Kendall said.
If a worker cannot prove that an injury occurred at one time, the law does not provide for compensation, he said. "It doesn't make sense" for a man to be denied compensation for back injury after he carries 100-pound bags for 20 years, when one who has an injury on his first day on the job will get compensation, he added.
Employers are legitimately concerned about costs, he said, because they are overtaxed and face mounting health insurance costs.
With tight money, Kendall said, worker compensation laws should provide for improved benefits and more efficient procedures.
The inadequacies of the present laws have left "a number of workers falling into the welfare system," he said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB