March 29, 2004
Forward progress | Can a new plan for the workers' comp board break a cycle of chronic deadlock?
By Sean Donahue
When it comes to workers' compensation issues, it appears that labor and management groups have finally found something they agree on: The current workers' compensation board is hopelessly ineffective and needs to be fixed.
On March 16, the Maine AFL-CIO and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce joined Gov. John Baldacci to announce a new plan to restructure the workers' compensation board, the panel of employee and employer representatives that oversees the state's workers' compensation system. The governor's bill would cut the number of board members from eight to six, with three representing organized labor and three representing management. The bill also would empower the board's executive director to cast the seventh ˆ and potentially tie-breaking ˆ vote.
The changes are a long-threatened move intended to break up the gridlock that has increasingly paralyzed the board over the past two years, when labor and management representatives have been divided over key issues such as appointing new workers' compensation claims hearing officers. Instead of reaching consensus solutions to those problems, the board has routinely stalemated in 4-4 votes that have led to lawsuits, unresolved policy decisions and unfilled positions.
"I think the new structure makes sense," says Paul Dionne, executive director of the Workers' Compensation Board. "Over the past 18 months the board has been completely deadlocked on the major issues. The governor or the Legislature had to come up with some sort of a solution."
The changes come 10 months after Baldacci put the board on notice that he wanted to see results ˆ or else. In May 2003, he sent the board a list of six key issues he wanted it to tackle to prove it could still function in its current form. When the board couldn't resolve several of those important issues by an October deadline, even its key stakeholders publicly backed Baldacci's efforts to create another structure that could operate more efficiently.
"The workers' compensation program is intended to serve employees and employers," says Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. "A board that just endorses the status quo and gets nothing accomplished is not in the state's interest."
Baldacci's bill also received labor and management support because the governor asked the two groups to help develop the new structure, which both sides say honors the original intention of the law. "This change keeps labor and management at the table, and they are the principal players in this workers' comp system," says Ed Gorham, president of the Maine AFL-CIO. "Now we'll have the executive director acting as a conductor to get us over the rough spots."
"A perpetuation of bitterness and acrimony"
The roughest of those rough spots currently concerns workers' compensation benefits themselves ˆ in particular, a section of the law calling for the board to decide how many workers in a given year are entitled to an extension of standard benefits. The question has remained unresolved since the Legislature first tried to set a standard in 1992 as it was writing the legislation that created the workers' compensation board.
Though last year the board made progress on a few of the governor's six issues ˆ such as reviewing its budgetary process and approving a revision of its long-term business plan ˆ the argument over benefits extensions became so divisive that it poisoned the entire process. "There was a perpetuation of bitterness and acrimony [from that argument] that carried over to all the major issues the board faced," says Dionne.
Under Baldacci's reform plan, the executive director would now cast the deciding vote in those situations. But Dionne believes simply the threat of a tie breaker will be enough to limit the instances in which such a vote is needed, since both sides would risk losing whatever concessions they could gain in a compromise if they had to settle for what Dionne calls an "all or nothing" decision.
Knowing that whoever delivers such tie-breaking votes would wield enormous influence over the workers' compensation system, the governor, as well as labor and management representatives, felt safer giving the role to the executive director rather than adding independent board members, as Gov. Angus King proposed in 2002. "The governorˆ understands he must consider the potential impact on individual employees and the economy," says Connors. "And since the executive director is accountable to the governor, we are making sure there is accountability for the decisions being made by the board."
Given that call for accountability, Dionne anticipates that he or any other future executive director likely will press as hard as possible for a compromise among board members before casting a final vote. Even then, he says the executive director must be prepared to explain his or her decision-making process. "The executive director will have to defend and justify his or her position in a way that assures the board, the Legislature, the governor and the public that it was not an arbitrary decision," says Dionne.
With support from labor and management groups, the governor's bill will likely pass easily, perhaps by the end of March. But even though most parties involved in the process believe that the new structure will help eliminate the board's deadlock, no one sounds confident that this will be the last time the state has to untangle the workers' compensation system. Connors calls the restructuring "a leap of faith," while Gorham expects it to be only a temporary fix ˆ he'd prefer a wholesale reform of the entire workers' compensation system, one that removes private insurers from the equation.
After a year of gridlock, it seems any forward momentum on workers' compensation issues is welcome ˆ even if the destination remains unknown.
On March 16, the Maine AFL-CIO and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce joined Gov. John Baldacci to announce a new plan to restructure the workers' compensation board, the panel of employee and employer representatives that oversees the state's workers' compensation system. The governor's bill would cut the number of board members from eight to six, with three representing organized labor and three representing management. The bill also would empower the board's executive director to cast the seventh ˆ and potentially tie-breaking ˆ vote.
The changes are a long-threatened move intended to break up the gridlock that has increasingly paralyzed the board over the past two years, when labor and management representatives have been divided over key issues such as appointing new workers' compensation claims hearing officers. Instead of reaching consensus solutions to those problems, the board has routinely stalemated in 4-4 votes that have led to lawsuits, unresolved policy decisions and unfilled positions.
"I think the new structure makes sense," says Paul Dionne, executive director of the Workers' Compensation Board. "Over the past 18 months the board has been completely deadlocked on the major issues. The governor or the Legislature had to come up with some sort of a solution."
The changes come 10 months after Baldacci put the board on notice that he wanted to see results ˆ or else. In May 2003, he sent the board a list of six key issues he wanted it to tackle to prove it could still function in its current form. When the board couldn't resolve several of those important issues by an October deadline, even its key stakeholders publicly backed Baldacci's efforts to create another structure that could operate more efficiently.
"The workers' compensation program is intended to serve employees and employers," says Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. "A board that just endorses the status quo and gets nothing accomplished is not in the state's interest."
Baldacci's bill also received labor and management support because the governor asked the two groups to help develop the new structure, which both sides say honors the original intention of the law. "This change keeps labor and management at the table, and they are the principal players in this workers' comp system," says Ed Gorham, president of the Maine AFL-CIO. "Now we'll have the executive director acting as a conductor to get us over the rough spots."
"A perpetuation of bitterness and acrimony"
The roughest of those rough spots currently concerns workers' compensation benefits themselves ˆ in particular, a section of the law calling for the board to decide how many workers in a given year are entitled to an extension of standard benefits. The question has remained unresolved since the Legislature first tried to set a standard in 1992 as it was writing the legislation that created the workers' compensation board.
Though last year the board made progress on a few of the governor's six issues ˆ such as reviewing its budgetary process and approving a revision of its long-term business plan ˆ the argument over benefits extensions became so divisive that it poisoned the entire process. "There was a perpetuation of bitterness and acrimony [from that argument] that carried over to all the major issues the board faced," says Dionne.
Under Baldacci's reform plan, the executive director would now cast the deciding vote in those situations. But Dionne believes simply the threat of a tie breaker will be enough to limit the instances in which such a vote is needed, since both sides would risk losing whatever concessions they could gain in a compromise if they had to settle for what Dionne calls an "all or nothing" decision.
Knowing that whoever delivers such tie-breaking votes would wield enormous influence over the workers' compensation system, the governor, as well as labor and management representatives, felt safer giving the role to the executive director rather than adding independent board members, as Gov. Angus King proposed in 2002. "The governorˆ understands he must consider the potential impact on individual employees and the economy," says Connors. "And since the executive director is accountable to the governor, we are making sure there is accountability for the decisions being made by the board."
Given that call for accountability, Dionne anticipates that he or any other future executive director likely will press as hard as possible for a compromise among board members before casting a final vote. Even then, he says the executive director must be prepared to explain his or her decision-making process. "The executive director will have to defend and justify his or her position in a way that assures the board, the Legislature, the governor and the public that it was not an arbitrary decision," says Dionne.
With support from labor and management groups, the governor's bill will likely pass easily, perhaps by the end of March. But even though most parties involved in the process believe that the new structure will help eliminate the board's deadlock, no one sounds confident that this will be the last time the state has to untangle the workers' compensation system. Connors calls the restructuring "a leap of faith," while Gorham expects it to be only a temporary fix ˆ he'd prefer a wholesale reform of the entire workers' compensation system, one that removes private insurers from the equation.
After a year of gridlock, it seems any forward momentum on workers' compensation issues is welcome ˆ even if the destination remains unknown.
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