Walmart and 20 other companies are lobbying hard to gut workers' comp

One more thing to protest Walmart over.Many states have gutted workers' compensation laws in recent years, but that's not enough for a group of major corporations-including Walmart, Safeway, and, as a "sponsoring member," Whole Foods-that are trying to rewrite workers' comp laws around the country, Molly Redden reports:

The companies have financed a lobbying group, the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers' Compensation (ARAWC), that has already helped write legislation in one state, Tennessee. Richard Evans, the group's executive director, told an insurance journal in November that the corporations ultimately want to change workers' comp laws in all 50 states. Lowe's, Macy's, Kohl's, Sysco Food Services, and several insurance companies are also part of the year-old effort. [...]

ARAWC's mission is to pass laws allowing private employers to opt out of the traditional workers' compensation plans that almost every state requires businesses to carry. Employers that opt out would still be compelled to purchase workers' comp plans. But they would be allowed to write their own rules governing when, for how long, and for which reasons an injured employee can access medical benefits and wages.

Workers' comp is supposed to take care of workers who are hurt on the job. But already, more than half of workers who might be eligible never even apply, and workers' comp pays for just a small share of the expenses injured workers face. That's still too much for these massive, highly profitable corporations, though. Already, the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers' Compensation has helped write a bill in Tennessee:

The bill as introduced does not require employers to pay for artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, funeral expenses, or disability modifications to a home or a car for injured workers. All of these benefits, notes Gary Moore, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, are mandated under the state's current workers' comp system. [...]

Under the current system, employers must cover a worker's medical expenses for as long as he needs treatment. Green's bill would allow companies to stop paying lifetime benefits after three years or $300,000, whichever comes first..

Not a bad deal for employers! No matter how badly a worker is hurt on your watch, working to create profit for you, you know your expenses will be limited according to legislation you paid to have written. Not such a good deal for workers, though, who may be unable to find work without the prosthetic, hearing aid, or modified car they need, and who may be stuck with huge, ongoing medical bills long after the company responsible for their injuries has bailed. Not such a good deal for taxpayers, either-already, federal, state, and local governments bear nearly as much of the cost for workplace injuries as workers' compensation does. Under corporate-written laws, how long do you think it would take for taxpayers to be paying significantly more of the costs than the companies responsible?

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