The following is a real message (slightly edited, name changed) that I sent to a friend who owns an insurance agency.<\/p>\n
Dear Marge,<\/p>\n
As you know, I\u2019m something of a workers’ compensation expert.\u00a0 In my years at the Workers’ Compensation Administration (WCA), I explained the employer posting requirement in publications and in hundreds of talks to employers. At your office the other day, I couldn\u2019t help noticing your company\u2019s workers’ compensation poster.<\/p>\n
Your posting (required by law, as you know) is incorrect.\u00a0 Since you are a competent and conscientious agent and you sell worker\u2019s comp insurance, I knew you would want to know.<\/p>\n
In the blank space in the middle, you filled out your own name and address.\u00a0 You should have filled out the contact information for your insurance company (in your case, that\u2019s the carrier you represent).<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why.\u00a0\u00a0 Workers\u2019 comp is an adversarial system.\u00a0 It assumes anyone can behave badly:\u00a0 workers might make false claims, and employers might refuse to report real claims. \u00a0If the employer fails or refuses to report a claim to the insurer, the information on the poster allows the worker to contact the insurer himself. \u00a0You would never cheat your employees that way, but some employers would.<\/p>\n
Most employers don\u2019t notice that space so they ignore it \u2013 and not only private employers.\u00a0 The New Mexico Attorney General\u2019s office (in a previous administration) once called me to discuss posting issues, because they were receiving complaints about commercial poster companies. \u00a0When I visited, their posting was incorrect.<\/p>\n
A few in-state insurers and groups provide posters to clients with the space corrrectly filled in.\u00a0 They have the right idea.<\/p>\n
Next: \u00a0There are no Notice of Accident (NOA) forms on your bulletin board!\u00a0 The statute (paragraph 52-1-29) requires these forms to be posted near the poster\u00a0 — and the poster itself says this.\u00a0 The NOA is a form that a worker should use to document any incident that could lead to an injury.\u00a0 The completed for is written evidence that the worker reported the incident.<\/p>\n
The law requires the form to be in duplicate.\u00a0 The worker fills it out, and\u00a0 a supervisor signs both copies.\u00a0 The worker keeps one copy.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s an adversarial system.\u00a0 If the worker doesn\u2019t report in time, the employer may not be liable \u2013 unless the employer fails to post the form. \u00a0This is especially important for accidents that nobody else witnesses, and for little things, like a slip and fall that doesn\u2019t seem important but that might cause a serious problem later.<\/p>\n
Hardly anybody understands this, and it is universally violated.\u00a0 \u00a0I know of major employers who instruct workers to report accidents by calling an 800 number or filing an online form that does not provide a receipt. \u00a0I have seen completed forms with both copies filed by the employer because the worker gave both copies back.<\/p>\n
The WCA used to print the forms with carbonless duplicates, but it has stopped printing the forms entirely. \u00a0Now the forms are online at the WCA web site.\u00a0 You have to print them yourself. \u00a0Probably very few employers print them, and I doubt anybody provides carbonless duplicates.\u00a0 Workers have lost a right.<\/p>\n
The WCA made this change after I retired.\u00a0 I was the NOA expert and I said the law was clear.\u00a0 Without the carbonless duplicates, every employer in New Mexico would inadvertently violate the statute.\u00a0 I started saying years ago that the solution was to update the statute.<\/p>\n
The law is only 23 years old, but it\u2019s a dinosaur.\u00a0 It was written before the 1990s\u2019 massive changes in computer technology. \u00a0And, though well-intended, it wasn\u2019t ever practical.\u00a0 When the WCA was distributing NOA forms by the hundreds of thousands, employers still didn\u2019t use them.<\/p>\n
When responsible people like you can\u2019t figure out how to comply with the law, there\u2019s something wrong with the law.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The following is a real message (slightly edited, name changed) that I sent to a friend who owns an insurance agency. Dear Marge, As you know, I\u2019m something of a workers’ compensation expert.\u00a0 In my years at the Workers’ Compensation … Continue reading