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PROTEST PHOTOS WANTED
Pfizer
Safety Protest You Tube Video 9-22-11
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Protest at State Capitol Letter
to
Governor Delivered
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Protest at State Capitol - RELL SMELLS
.COM
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"I'm not
getting any benefits. My wife and I couldn't
get along because of financial problems. I wound
up getting divorced losing my house and so I don't
live at the house any more. I had to move out."
Injured Worker
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“
In six years of delays and denials, her case management through workers
compensation
has been barbaric, uncivilized, detrimental and unconscionable. Treating Physician
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"I
expected a prompt, efficient, simple and inexpensive procedure. I didn't get
that. It took me over 900 days to go from
treatment being cut off to a Commissioner's decision on
the issue. That
must
be the prompt and
efficient part. (I'm
sure one of the experts can
explain how this was my
fault)."
Injured Worker
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“I
witnessed an injured worker denied treatment in a doctor’s waiting room
because Workers Compensation denied his physical therapy without
justification. He
was told to leave, limping out, obviously embarrassed.
It was appalling”
Injured Worker
I
know during the period 1912-2008 the Connecticut Workers Compensation
Commissioners’ became "Judges". (dates unknown) they became "Doctors".
As of 1/29/08 they are "Scientists". Injured
Worker Discussion Forum Reasonable or Necessary Medical care
CGS 31-294d. |
“Then the
real Hell started. I have been treated to
game playing with checks, prescriptions and doctors appointments. How our lives and those of our kids change
because of a system not designed to help but to judge”.
Injured Worker
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"Cash in
your chips and move on. Get these people (Workers Comp.
Commissioners) out of your daily life. It's a statutory system
which was gutted by the Legislature in 1995".
It won't pay
Board Certified Attorney
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Wife begs for
help, save our family. BSOF. Writes letter to Workers
Compensation
Commissioner who dismises her as a liar.
Injured Worker Spouse
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"The
insurance company, backed up by Workers Compensation, is able to
arbitrarily cease medical treatment, physical therapy, surgeries and
medication without consequence”. Injured Worker
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INSURERS
REAP HUGE PROFITS
In 1993, the Connecticut legislature
overhauled
the state's workers compensation
system, a
move that has been a
windfall
for insurers, with profits now
double the
national average. However,
these huge
profits were gained by deep
cuts in
benefits paid to workers.
In fact,
benefits paid to workers were cut
in half
due to measures like dropping the
workers'
compensation benefit rate to
75 percent
of average take-home pay, a
one-third
reduction in all permanency
benefits,
restrictions on access to medical
treatment,
and other major benefit cutbacks.
Connecticut's
pay-outs to workers
have
lagged significantly below
national
averages, by as much as 21.2
percent in
1996, with an overall average
from 1993
through 2004 of 65.2
percent of
premium dollars in
Connecticut
versus 70.9 percent
nationally.
From 1993
through 2004, total
benefits
paid to injured workers represented
55 percent
of insurance company
revenues,
resulting in after-tax profits
of
$882,539,000.
The 1993
changes mandated
a 19
percent premium rebate for
employers.
This figure was based
on
estimates provided by the insurance
industry
to the Connecticut legislature
at the
time.
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Is
this Surveillance Legal or Stalking?
Benefits
Terminated After Surveillance - Does monetary loss cause Injured
Workers loss of personal safety? Stalking?
Private detective
caught in front of IW's home.
Injured Worker
shoots comp investigator on his property
"I've never seen an example
of so many presumably decent, educated professionals collaborating with
cynical chuckles up their sleeves in a system so irredeemably
destructive to the people it was supposedly trying to help," "people-dumping",
Continuous Trauma, Michael Eric Stein
“Discarded
and forgotten by their employers, denied medical
coverage by the workers’ compensation insurers; many have been left to
die,
slowly and agonizingly…”
Depraved Indifference, Patrice
Woeppel
In
summary, we hold that the supersedeas provisions under § 531(5)
and (6) violate the dictates of due process by not
affording disabled employees notice or an opportunity to be heard
before their medical benefits are suspended.139 F.3d
158
To
remedy the procedural defects in the statute, at a minimum, an employee
must be given:
(1) timely and reasonable notice of
the imminent suspension of the medical benefits and treatment
before the suspension takes effect;
(2) a description of the reasons
why utilization review has been invoked;
(3) an opportunity and time to
submit a personal statement in writing regarding the employee's view
of the reasonableness and/or necessity of the disputed medical
treatments;
(4) a description of the procedures
under which the employee can appeal an adverse determination.
“Forget
about personal. They don’t think of you as a person. They think
of you as a file with a dollar sign on it. They don’t care if you can’t
put food on the table or put braces on your daughter. You’re thinking
of this logically. I stopped thinking that way a long time ago. This is
comp.” The sub-basement of the legal world.
NYTimes A World
of Hurt
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More Workers' Horror
Stories NOIW.org
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WHILE WORKERS SUFFER
However,
at no
time did
the industry suggest that its
profits would immediately skyrocket
to a
four-year average of 28.3 percent
-
quadrupling the previous four
years'
national average profit rate.
50 percent
from July 1, 1993 to
January 1,
2005.
Total
benefits paid
to workers decreased about
39 percent
from 1991
to 2004 as a percentage
of
payroll. Insurers' overstatement
of losses
in rate filings leaves
employers
blaming injury losses for
their
expenses when insurance profits
are
really to blame.
A
collateral consequence of
the
shrinkage in workers compensation
benefits
has been a reduction of
attorney
involvement in workers
compensation
claims. Data available
from 1998
through 2002 shows
that
attorney involvement in workers
compensation
claims in Connecticut
dropped to
an average of 10.6 percent
of workers
compensation claims
in 2002 -
the 2002 national average
was
14.3 percent.
Source:
AIS
Risk Consultants, Inc.,
Workers’
Compensation:
A Cautionary Tale
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"There
is nothing that the law or any
legislator or attorney can do to make your life whole again in the
Connecticut
Workers Compensation
system from a job related injury.
There
is no system here in CT to enable us to
say you are 100% whole again".
"It
is terrible, IT STINKS, that the
workers compensation law cannot make injured workers whole"
"Workers
Compensation is a Judicial System
- the Commissioners are Judges" State
Representative (2009)
INJUREDWORKERSDAY.ORG
LETTER DELIVERED TO THE GOVERNOR
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"I am unable to
determine at what point, if any, the majority would conclude the
legislature went too far in altering a substitute remedy".
"I
would conclude that the Workers Compensation Act, as amended, no longer
provides an adequate quid pro quo".
ALLEGRUCCI, Justice, dissenting.
942 P.2d 591
262 Kan. 840 Nos.
77142, 77561 Supreme Court
of Kansas. July 18, 1997
INJURED WORKERS OF
KANSAS, et al., Appellants,
v.
Wayne L. FRANKLIN, Secretary of Human Resources, and Philip S. Harness,
Director of Workers Compensation, Appellees, Oliver GETTLE, Appellant
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SEN. COLAPIETRO: Put that up there,
"assume". " It doesn't work that way. Now last year, 1991, that
was what everyone had in mind. The benefits were cut in fact. The
insurance premiums did increase in fact and not a job was created and
not a layoff was prevented that I know of and yet this year they're
asking for the same exact thing, cut workers' benefits".
1993
Legislative
testimony
full
transcript
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Illinois
House May Scrap Workers' Compensation
SPRINGFIELD,
Ill.
The
Illinois House is considering
a plan to scrap the state 's much-criticized workers' compensation system, leaving
businesses and their employees to battle in court over payment for each
workplace injury.
Legislation ending
the system was given tentative approval in a voice vote Thursday. Rep. John Bradley, D-
Marion , said he plans to hold a final vote as soon as possible.
"Let's
give
the
courts
a
chance.
Let's
try
something
else. Because we know what we've been doing isn't working,"
Bradley said in debate. Bradley has
been leading efforts to overhaul workers' compensation, the insurance
program that covers employee health costs and lost pay after injuries.
He insisted his proposal to scrap the program was not a stunt meant to
shake up negotiations. The
president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Michael Carrigan, said he would
consider losing the workers' compensation system entirely before
agreeing to business demands that he sees as gutting the program.
Businesses complain
that the Illinois system has among the nation's highest costs. Their chief allegation is that workers can win
payments without having to provide clear proof that an injury is
job-related. They also argue that prices for medical care are set too
high and the system is slanted to resolve disputes in favor of workers.
Federal
prosecutors are investigating
the workers'
compensation program in the wake of newspaper reports that
hundreds of employees at a single prison received awards, as did some
of the arbitrators who decided workers' comp disputes. Labor groups see little need to change the
system. Neither do medical groups, whose members get paid to care for
injured workers.
So Bradley has been stymied in his efforts to reach a deal to revamp
workers' compensation. Republican
lawmakers acknowledged the difficulty but objected to simply dropping
the system altogether. "Your
solution is a nuclear bomb. You're atomizing this," said Rep. Dave Winters,
R-Shirland. Labor groups say
workers' compensation is slow and inefficient.
But
without it, they contend, injured employees would have to fight long,
expensive court battles to avoid being wiped out by medical
bills and lost wages.
"We find it difficult to believe that anyone could seriously think that
scrapping the basic protection of workers' comp is a good idea," said
Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees. Business
groups also reject Bradley's plan, but not unanimously. "It's a minority opinion, but there are
employers who would take that deal," said Todd Maisch, lobbyist for the
Illinois Chamber of Commerce. "We think on the whole it's going to
create more problems than it would solve. There are just too many
unknowns." Democratic Gov. Pat
Quinn has proposed a workers' compensation overhaul that would limit
payments for carpal
tunnel syndrome, deny claims from workers injured because they
were drunk and require tougher reviews before some medical procedures are
authorized. But his plan wouldn't address the chief business demand
that injuries be shown to have a job link.
---
The bill is
HB1032.
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Connecticut
General Statues Case comments by Judges
Workers’ Compensation Act is liberally construed in favor of employee
and is to be interpreted with sufficient liberality to carry into
effect its beneficial purpose and to prevent defeat of this purpose by
narrow and technical definition. Infante v. Mansfield Construction Co.
(1998) 706 A.2d 984, 47 Conn. App
Purpose of
Workers’ Compensation Law is to compensate worker for injuries arising
out of and in the course of employment, without regard to fault, by
imposing form of strict liability on employer. Dowling v Slotnik
(1998) 712 A2nd 396, 244 Conn. 781.
Under Workers’ Compensation Act, employee surrenders his right to bring
a common law action against employer, thereby limiting employer’s
liability to statutory amount, in return, employee is compensated for
his of her losses without having to prove liability. Doe v. Yale
University (2000) 748 A.2d 834, 252 Conn.641.
Humanitarian
and
remedial
purposes
of
workers’
compensation
law counsel against an overly narrow construction that unduly limits
eligibility for workers’ compensation, and thus courts do not construe
the law to impose limitations on benefits that the law itself does not
specify clearly. Gartrell v Department of Corrections (2001) 787
A2d. 541, 259 Conn.29
Construing the Workers Compensation Act liberally advances its
underlying purpose, i.e., to provide financial protection to the
claimant and his family. Laliberte v. United Sec., Inc. (2002) 801 A.2d
783, 261 Conn. 181.
Workers'
Compensation Act is remedial and must be interpreted liberally to
achieve its humanitarian purposes. C.G.S.A. § 31-275 et
seq.
Gil v. Courthouse One, 687 A.2d 146
Conn.,1997
Since Workers' Compensation Act is remedial statute, Supreme Court
should not impose limitations on benefits provided for disabled worker
that statute itself does not clearly specify. C.G.S.A. § 31-275 et
seq.
Laliberte v. United Sec., Inc., 261 Conn. 181
Conn.,2002
By recognizing limitations not delineated by the legislature, a court
risks denying the beneficent purposes of the Workers' Compensation Act.
C.G.S.A. § 31-275 et seq.
Infante v. Mansfield Construction Co., 706 A.2d 984
Conn.App.,1998
Workers'
Compensation Act is liberally construed in favor of employee and is to
be interpreted with sufficient liberality to carry into effect its
beneficial purpose and to prevent defeat of this purpose by narrow and
technical definition. C.G.S.A. § 31-275 et seq. |
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Section 31-310b
Average Weekly Wage of General Assembly Member - (Code for your
elected Legislator and Senate Representative) For purposes of workers'
compensation the average weekly wage of a member of the General
Assembly shall
be construed to be the average weekly earnings of production and
related workers
in manufacturing in the state as determined by the Labor Commissioner
in
accordance with the provisions of section 31-309. For the purposes of
this
section, there shall be no prorating of benefits because of other
employment by
a member of the General Assembly."
This
lets them double dip! Our benefits are reduced by other income!
This is
the same reason they don't care about health insurance because they
have golden policies that cover everything.
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Buried
in all the Connecticut
Workers Compensation Statutes
pages of "Thou Shall NOT"
is this gem, " Thou Shall Care For Workers"
Sec.
31-294d. Medical and
surgical aid; hospital and nursing service.
(a)(1) The employer, as soon as the employer has knowledge of an
injury, shall
provide a competent physician or surgeon to attend the injured employee
and, in
addition, shall furnish any medical and surgical aid or hospital and
nursing
service, including medical rehabilitation services and prescription
drugs, as
the physician or surgeon deems reasonable or necessary. The
employer, any
insurer acting on behalf of the employer, or any other entity acting on
behalf
of the employer or insurer shall be responsible for paying the cost of
such
prescription drugs directly to the provider.
Reasonable or Necessary medical treatment
as determined by the physician or surgeon is the chief operative
clause of the
Workers Compensation Statute, don't let them tell you otherwise. Stand
your ground!
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We
will bring to light the corrupt practices designed to give more power
through shoddy legal practices to Commissioners while stripping you of
your rights.
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The
present Workers
Compensation system is Depraved Indifference! Depraved
Indifference
Woeppl
(2008)
The
Report of the National Commission on State Workers' Compensation Laws
said so
in unanimous agreement in 1972. The
Congress finds the following:
(1) The
full protection of American
workers from job-related injury or death requires an adequate, prompt,
and
equitable system of workers' compensation as well as an effective
program of
occupational health and safety regulation.
(2) The
vast majority of American
workers and their families are dependent on workers' compensation for
their
basic economic security in the event such workers suffer injury or
death in the
course of employment.
(3) In
1972, the National Commission
on State Workmen's Compensation Laws found that the system of State
workers'
compensation laws was `inequitable and inadequate'. Since that time,
changes in
reductions in State workers' compensation laws have increased the
inadequacy
and inequitable levels of workers' compensation benefits.
Serious
questions exist concerning the fairness
and adequacy of present workers' compensation laws. |
The collatoral damage in all this is the
children, whether the family remains intact or is divorced the ecomonic
impact is horrible and likely to condem
them and future generations to poverty. We met a group supporting
children and found their format so pro-children/families that needs to
be passed on. www.FatherWithoutChristmas.com
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State page hosters
wanted. Protest
photos encouraged.
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Contact/mail your story to
Injuredworkersday@yahoo.com
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