Valerie Johnson asks to keep workers’ comp costs paid by insurance companies, not injured workers

The North Carolina Industrial Commission, the agency that manages the workers’ compensation system, has an Advisory Council appointed to advise the chair of the Commission on important issues that he faces in doing his job. The Council includes representatives of the insurance industry, large employers, Commissioners, and representatives of injured workers such as Valerie, who currently serves as the chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice.

The Council met last week. Because some Industrial Commission Rules were disapproved by the NC Legislature during the last session, new Rules must be prepared to replace them.  Some of those Rules set the costs that the Industrial Commission charges for hearings and approving agreements, among other charges.  Injured workers have, for the first time since every, been asked to pay some of these costs instead of the insurance companies.

Valerie and other representatives of injured workers maintained that these costs should be born by industry, since workers’ compensation is a system that protects employers from lawsuits, in exchange for having to pay workers’ medical bills and a portion of their lost wages when they are hurt. Valerie also argued that if the Commission is going to start charging injured workers, they should at least provide injured workers, many of whom are out of work, with the ability to get their cases heard if they can’t pay.