Ohio Chamber of Commerce
Workers' Compensation Reform Agenda

The Ohio Chamber's Workers' Compensation Reform Agenda was developed from the hard work and dedication of our Workers' Compensation Committee and other members interested in workers' compensation issues. These issues have been identified as the cost-drivers in the system that unnecessarily drive up the expense of workers' compensation premiums and fees. These cost-drivers have evolved from bad Ohio Supreme Court decisions and antiquated workers' compensation laws that have not been amended for decades.

Today, Ohio employers pay over $2 billion dollars each year in premium payments and assessments. The BWC has conservatively estimated annual savings of more than $180 million dollars if a handful of the issues in the Chamber's agenda, along with other administrative changes, are made to the system - meaning these changes would amount to at least an 8% savings on premium costs each year.

Since BWC's estimates do not include several of the changes proposed by the Ohio Chamber we estimate the potential overall savings to the worker comp system to be even greater if all of the following changes were enacted.

•	Reduce the statute of repose for closing inactive workers' compensation claims from up to 10 years to a flat 4 year limitation for all claims.
•	Require an injured worker to demonstrate "substantial" aggravation of a pre-existing injury rather than mere aggravation before receiving additional compensation.
•	Eliminate claimant's automatic right to dismiss an employer's appeal.
•	Reduce/Eliminate the number of weeks a claimant can collect "non-working wage loss" benefits (currently up to 200 weeks, approx. 4 years)
•	Clarify the requirement for statutory permanent total disability (PTD).
•	Eliminate non-medical disability factors when determining percent of Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) awards.
•	Eliminate non-medical disability factors (i.e. age, education, work experience, etc.) from consideration when determining PTD awards.
•	Limit payment of multiple awards for the same injury causing death.
•	Correct case law that indexes PTD claims to reflect cost of living increases in salary
•	Upon an injury, allow employers to immediately pay wages and medical expenses without losing their legal rights(payment without prejudice)
•	No mental (psychiatric) claim allowance for alleged mental (psychiatric) only injuries Eliminate court awarded protection from termination while on TTD, especially for individuals who game the system (Coolidge)
•	Clarify definition of "occupational disease" and "cumulative trauma"
•	Clarify statute of limitations for occupational disease claims with long latency periods State fund employers enjoy same BWC services when paying wages in lieu of compensation
•	$1,000 deductible program
•	Mirror workers' compensation asbestos medical criteria with HB 292
•	Greater consistency among Industrial Commission hearing officer decisions
•	Set-off or cutoff of PTD after retirement
	Intentional Tort Reform - ACCOMPLISHED
	Subrogation rights under workers' compensation law -ACCOMPLISHED
	Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the Workplace - ACCOMPLISHED