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

[applegrove]

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

by Laura Clawson at Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/27/1373674/-Walmart-and-20-other-companies-are-lobbying-hard-to-gut-workers-comp

"SNIP................



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:


.................SNIP"

[PumpkinAle]

1. Kick

The companies really do feel that anything that benefits the workers is wrong.

It is getting so bad that trying to boycott these stores is becoming nigh impossible.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Most companies would like what

the state of South Dakota does with Workers Comp. Flat fee of 13k and if that does not cover your claim,tough shit baby,you pay the rest out of your pocket.