Earlier this year, three workers’ compensation bills that would have increased liability or compliance burden for employers were passed by indefinitely by a subcommittee of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, which effectively kills them for this legislative session.
House Bill 460 would have expanded current law to protect employees from being fired for any reason that was motivated by the employer’s knowledge or belief that the employee was planning to file a workers compensation claim. NFIB argued this all-encompassing generality could pave the way for someone who was fired to come back and say that it was related to a long-ago workers compensation claim they submitted.
House Bill 461 would have required employers to respond to workers’ compensation claim within 10 days of the initial claim and explain why it was denied. Currently, employers have 20 days, and 10 days is simply not enough time to investigate a claim, according to the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia.
Finally, House Bill 462 would have allowed Virginia employees to file for workers compensation from their employers in Virginia, even if injured while working outside the state. This would have greatly increased employer liability.
Although Subcommittee Chairman Gregory Habeeb says he thinks there are changes that can be made to the state’s workers compensation system to better benefit claimants, he didn’t think the proposed solutions were the ones.
