Senate gives unanimous approval to workers' comp bill

The Missouri Senate yesterday gave unanimous approval to a bill that would reform the state's workers' compensation system.

By a vote of 34-0, the Senate passed House Bill 1540, which now moves to the governor, according to a news release. Gov. Jay Nixon in March vetoed Senate Bill 572, a workers' comp bill, saying the bill would downgrade the current law.

According to the Senate release, the new bill removes provisions related to diseases caused by toxic exposure, which Nixon took issue with in SB 572. HB 1540 aims to protect co-employees from personal lawsuits for their roles in workplace accidents.

“It’s unacceptable that an employee injured in an honest accident at work can sue their co-employees,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, who handled the bill in the Senate, in the release. “Co-workers, most of whom do not have insurance when it comes to covering their role in workplace accidents, should not be open to lawsuits as a secondary slush fund for those injured on the job.  

"The responsibility should begin and end with the employer and the workers’ compensation system.”

Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President and CEO Daniel Mehan praised the efforts of the General Assembly, and he said the workers' comp system became flawed in 2005 when reforms unintentionally gave the go-ahead for employees to sue co-workers.

“Workers’ compensation served as the exclusive remedy for co-employees for decades until the changes to the law in 2005,” said Rich AuBuchon, general counsel for the Missouri chamber, in a separate release. “This loophole puts Missouri workers in the crosshairs of trial attorneys seeking big payouts for a cause of action that was not intended to exist.  

"No employee should be forced to worry about losing their home to a lawsuit based on an unintentional workplace accident."