Innovative law passed in Montana

• Montana recently passes House Bill 836, creating a “regulatory sandbox” in which property and casualty insurers can apply for waivers to test new and different products or services.
• The measure allows workers’ compensation insurers the ability to test concepts that can improve the injured worker’s experience or speed up the return-to-work process thereby reducing the cost of claims and helping drive down premium rates for employers.
• An insurance sandbox creates a partnership model between the regulator and an insurer. The partnership reduces specified regulatory hurdles in order to allow time-bound testing of innovations under the regulator’s oversight.
• “As Montana’s largest workers’ compensation insurer, we are always seeking new and better ways to deliver for our customers,” Montana State Fund MSF CEO Holly O’Dell said. “Sandbox will help build better experiences and outcomes through innovative ideas.”
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More trouble for Dollar General

• Workplace safety inspections by the U.S. Labor Dept. in Alabama and Florida found three Dollar General locations exposing employees to fire hazards and other unsafe conditions.
• In October 2022, inspectors with the department discovered spare shelving, rolling containers, and merchandise blocking exit routes and creating fire and entrapment hazards at a Dollar General store in Addison, Alabama.
• OSHA noted walkways blocked by merchandise and unsafely stacked items, which exposed workers to trip and struck-by hazards.
• In December 2022 in Astor, Florida, OSHA found Dollar General allowing merchandise and other items to block access to fire extinguishers and permitting employees to store materials improperly in the working space around an electrical panel.
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New average workers’ comp settlements

• The average workers’ comp settlement is $20,00 but there are differences in the amount of potential compensation available.
• Several factors, including state laws, whether your permanent disability is total or partial, which body part is affected, and what your wages were prior to the injury, can affect payment.
• Whether a disability is full or partial depends on the impairment rating claimants are assigned after reaching maximum medical improvement.
• A doctor gives an impairment rating at that time and if it exceeds a certain percentage, such as 20% or 35% depending on state laws, the claimant may be considered permanently totally disabled.
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Despite shifting on-site culture, workers’ comp steady

• While the workforce has undergone a significant shift in the last few years of people working from home, the parameters of workers’ compensation law that were developed in reliance upon the traditional model of work.
• As practitioners know, the workers’ compensation system is largely “no-fault” — it does not hold employees to the same stringent standards as plaintiffs in personal injury cases.
• This seemed an appropriate trade-off since employees had a relatively low threshold to establish a compensable claim for work injuries.
• The Workers’ Compensation Act acknowledged a disparity in control between employers and employees.
• The Workers’ Compensation Act acknowledged a disparity in control between employers and employees and addressed it by enacting a system that strongly benefits the employees.
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