Union lawsuit hits snag

Associated Industries of Missouri, a statewide business-lobbying group, on Jan. 18 filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by a number of Missouri unions seeking to overturn workers' compensation reform legislation passed last year.

AIM's motion in Cole County Circuit Court was as an “applicant-intervenor,” meaning that the group has an interest in the case even though it is not a party in the lawsuit. The suit, filed Nov. 30 by 73 state unions including local offices of the Teamsters and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, names the state's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Attorney General Jay Nixon as defendants.

The unions allege that the workers' compensation reforms in Senate Bill 1 are discriminatory against workers with pre-existing conditions and that they eliminate the original role of the system - as a simpler substitute for court action.

AIM Executive Vice President Jim Kistler said his group wants the lawsuit thrown out because it goes well beyond challenging the reforms of SB 1.

“The suit was filed, in essence, to overturn the workers' comp law,” Kistler said. “Much of the lawsuit challenges parts of the law that extend back as far as the 1960s and 1970s - not necessarily the reforms enacted last year. What we want is to make sure we can assist (Nixon) by bringing our business expertise to the table.”

John Fougere, press secretary for Nixon, said that Nixon's office was not opposed to the AIM motion, but he couldn't discuss Nixon's personal opinion about the case.

“When there are challenges to a state law, our office represents the state in those challenges, and it's no different in this case,” Fougere said. “That's our involvement.”

Local Teamsters head Jim Kabell said his organization opposes AIM's involvement in the case.

“We think they're the ones that were behind this whole mess to start with,” Kabell said. “They've done enough damage already and shouldn't be intervening at this point.”

Local representatives of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers could not be reached by press time, but in December, Kabell told Springfield Business Journal that the unions feel that system reforms leave workers vulnerable.

“The work comp system … was an agreement to take the system out of the courts and put something in that provided workers with health care for injuries on the job and employers with protection from courtroom litigation and expense,” Kabell said. “The law that was passed (last year), we think, destroys that system in this state. It was such a one-sided affair in the state legislature that everything in this bill was an employer-driven issue, and there has to be both sides.”

AIM's Kistler said the lawsuit has another governing factor.

“I really believe that's what this lawsuit is all about - money,” he said. “This law makes it harder for attorneys to recover part of the award. Right now, they're getting 25 percent of whatever the claimant gets, and that (money) is better used helping the claimant overcome their injury, get new vocational training if they need it, and supporting the claimant rather than going to an attorney somewhere.”

A hearing date for AIM's motion has not been set.

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