Guest: If Oklahoma wants to be top 10 state for business, better workers' comp is a must
On July 12, 2023, The Oklahoman featured an article on the front page with the headline "The Bottom Line: Oklahoma falls in annual ranking of best states for business."
Chris Casteel wrote that "Oklahoma slipped into the bottom 10 in CNBC's annual ranking of the best states to do business, as the state's scores in education and quality of life were among the worst in the nation."
In 2013, the Legislature and governor enacted the harshest workers' compensation law in the nation, decimating benefits for injured workers' benefits. Supporters of the change claimed business was not coming to Oklahoma because of high workers' compensation rates.
The law went into effect in 2014, and to this day injured workers have had relief only in raising their off-work benefit (also known as “temporary total disability” or TTD) as high wage earners in the oil field got hit the hardest. The maximum rate for TTD was $561 per week.
In other words: The most anyone could receive while they were off work — no matter what they made previously — was capped at $561 per week.
Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of people who represent injured workers, the Legislature decided to return to a former philosophy and based the rate on the state's average weekly wage. That gave at least a logical basis for the cap.
During this year’s legislative session, we were blocked for the third year in a row on getting relief for first responders suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from on-the-job psychological injuries.
Relief will not even be granted to people who serve and protect our communities when they have to deal with looking at gruesome victims of crimes and fires.
If Oklahoma wants to become a top 10 state for business, we must improve the benefits we provide for injured workers. It’s the least we can do for people who make Oklahoma such a great state.
Joseph C. “Joe” Biscone II is the managing partner of Johnson & Biscone and one of Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation attorneys.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest: Better workers’ comp would make Oklahoma better for business
