Proposed legislation that would change the way disability payments are adjudicated received sharp criticism at a Workers Compensation Advisory Council meeting today as a potential means to unfairly deny benefits to injured workers.

Committee member James Olsen, president of the Food Industry Association, says the intent was to ensure employees receiving disability wage benefits are being cooperative in receiving treatment or taking on light duty, and aren't receiving wage benefits if their conduct merits employment termination.

"The employee needs to cooperate in getting back to work," Olsen told committee members. "If they fail to do that, those wage benefits could be withheld."

However, attorney Mike Martinez is among those who believe the provision would do much more than prevent abuse of the system. He says a provision against "criminal conduct" would effectively cut off undocumented workers who can't return to work without committing a criminal act.

Council member Brian Kelm, an attorney who represents injured workers, said the bill had the potential to penalize families, by cutting off a worker who is cited for something such as driving under the influence.

"This is so incredibly over-broad," he says. "Who are you to penalize the wife and children at all, who have absolutely no means of support. ... This needs to be killed outright."

Martinez also criticized the bill for allowing an insurance adjudicator to determine whether an employee has made reasonable efforts to cooperate, placing a burden of proof on employees to prove they're cooperating and reducing the statute of limitations — for some cases for filing an appeal of denial to one year.

An employee would be deemed uncooperative — and therefore ineligible for wage benefits — if they are terminated for a reason that is "reasonable, for cause, and as a result, in whole or in part, of criminal conduct, violent conduct, or a violation of a reasonable workplace rule that is applied in a nondiscriminatory basis."

Other reasons cited for being uncooperative would be, if they are incarcerated for a period of time that would result in their termination, or if they are terminated for use of a controlled substance or intoxication from alcohol.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com