Tulsa’s Workers Comp Payment
The City of Tulsa’s Workers Comp will be double Payouts in six years. When something comes across my radar screen from my original home state, I always make sure that I read it over closely. According to the Tulsa World – Oklahoma’s second-largest city – Tulsa – has seen their Workers Compensation payments double from 2003 through 2009.
The increase in payments for Workers Comp could be attributed to a more liberal court or just a run of bad luck. However, the reporter noted that one item of interest is the apparent correlation between workers’ compensation claims and job separation. Of the 503 individuals to receive workers’ comp payments from the city’s sinking fund in the budget year 2009, almost 40 percent are no longer listed on the city payroll.
This is one of the cardinal sins of Workers Comp. Laying off workers while they are drawing temporary total disability benefits is very serious. Most states will consider the worker to be at a permanent total status if they are not considered for a return to work.
One would think that the human resources administration for the City of Tulsa should be quizzed on the number of terminations while on compensation. This is not a hard one to figure out.
