| Today's post is shared from reduceyourworkerscomp.com/ Employers get little to no relief from state workers compensation second injury funds. Many state second injury laws are weak, ill defined, are hard to penetrate, and may lack proper funding. Rules and regulations make it hard for a claim to be acceptance by a second injury fund. Funding programs for second injury funds vary greatly. Some are funded from insurance carrier premium assessments. Others are funded from state budgets and legislative action. Most funding programs may fail to meet the fund exposures or liabilities. This means that even if a claim is accepted by a fund, the employer may not be able to recover their expended funds. The employer has to handle and pay the claim before seeking reimbursement from the second injury fund. Second Injury Funds and rules became prevalent after World War II as a program to induce employers to hire handicapped veterans. By then workers compensation law, legal precedent, and regulation had clearly established that the employer took the employee as is. This meant any employee with an underlying pathology or disability, who sustained a compensable injury which aggravated or increased the overall heath or disability costs had to be borne by the employer. The second injury fund program gave the employer relief from the expense of the aggravation or increased disability. The fund would take over the claim handling and cost after certain set periods of time... |
