News about current legislation affecting workplace rights before the U.S. Congress and the legislatures of all 50 states.
Please note that some articles may no longer be available on the source's website, or may not be accessible without payment of a fee, as different sites have different archive policies.
Select your state from the map below or from this list. (If your state does not have any court cases, then the page will not scroll down when you click on the state.)
Source: Tim Hoover, Kansas City Star
Date: September 8, 2005
A
problem with Missouri's new workers' compensation law might not get fixed for three more months. That's
because Republicans need Democrats to muster the two-thirds vote needed to attach an emergency clause to the
bill fixing the problem. Without an emergency clause, which would make the bill effective immediately, the
measure won't become law for 90 days. The new law narrows the definition of workplace injuries and makes it
more difficult for injured workers to receive benefits. It also allows employers to require employees to use
vacation or sick leave to recover from a work-related injury, and it requires doctors to use only "objective"
medical findings about a worker's injury, not "subjective" information about pain.
Workers' comp revisions become law
Source: Ben Welsh, Columbia Missourian
Date: March 31, 2005
Gov. Matt Blunt
signed a fundamental rewrite of the state workers' compensation system into law Wednesday. The changes will
reduce the number of injuries that qualify for benefits and increase scrutiny on the program's judges. Blunt
praised the new law, which his Democratic opponents say will make life harder for injured workers, as a
necessary reform to a program he says is costing Missouri business. The laws join a growing list of
pro-business measures enacted under the Blunt administration, which took over in January. One of Blunt's first
acts as governor was to knock down collective bargaining rights for state workers.
Workers compensation crisis seems fabricated
Source: Hugh McVey, Kansas City Star
Date: March 22, 2005
Every
time Missourians go to work, they will risk medical and financial catastrophe if Gov. Matt Blunt signs new
legislation. During the legislative debate over workers compensation, I was bemused, startled and finally
outraged at attempts by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and its business allies to invent a workers
compensation crisis here. The facts are plain. Over the past decade or more, Missouri businesses and their
workers have been able to use competitive forces and aggressive safety programs to control workers compensation
costs. Nothing in Missouri's workers compensation environment justifies Jefferson City's current assault on
our state's workers--blue-, white- and pink-collar--that leaves them, their families and our communities at
financial and medical risk.
Lawmakers refine bill on workers' comp
Source: Ben Welsh, Missourian
Date: March 15, 2005
State House and Senate
lawmakers ironed out differences in two bills that would fundamentally rewrite Missouri's workers'
compensation law. The legislation would tighten the definition of who qualifies for workers' compensation.
Benefits would be awarded only when a job is deemed to be the "prevailing" cause of injury. Heart attacks at
the workplace or car accidents while driving in a company car would not qualify. It would also increase the
burden of proof placed on workers who claim injury and step up the scrutiny given to the system's judges. It
is supported by the insurance industry and business interests and opposed by unions and workers groups.
Lacking area support, living-wage plan tabled
Source: Lynn Horsley, Kansas City Star
Date: May 19, 2004
Kansas
City Councilman Terry Riley has agreed to hold off on his living-wage proposal. Last week Riley introduced a
proposal to place a living-wage ordinance on the Aug. 3 ballot. The council's Budget and Audit Committee heard
testimony Tuesday from several groups that support the idea, but the committee postponed action indefinitely.
Riley's proposal would have required the city and agencies that serve the city to pay a living wage of at
least 130 percent of the federal poverty level.
