Top Ten Workers Comp Payouts

Aren’t you glad you have worker’s comp insurance? You have to keep close tabs on those insurers though. The company that “covered” a South Dakota nursing home offered employees bonuses if they could reduce overall payouts from one year to the next, a fact that a nursing home employee who underwent surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome cited in a lawsuit after her $8000 claim for physical impairment, medical expenses, and lost time was denied. Her lawyers claimed the year-on year-incentive created a conflict of interest for claims adjusters, who were supposed to be motivated by fairness and not cost control. In the end, the employee was awarded over $12 million in compensation. Tort reform advocates made much of the fact that 45 percent was paid to the law firm, but the former nursing home employee lived happily ever after on the approximately $7 million that was left. The above-cited article has nine more cautionary tales for risk managers, including the $13.2 million workers comp settlement for an ironworker struck by a car on the way to work on his motorcycle. The California state trooper who hit him was texting when the collision occurred.