Staffing firms may have to adjust to several changes in state workers’ comp systems. If a bill passes in Tennessee, it would be the third state along with Texas and Oklahoma to allow employers to set up their own workers’ comp programs. Attorneys are challenging Oklahoma’s opt-out law, which only took effect last year. Tennessee’s law would allow an employee to file a lawsuit. Both Connecticut and Arizona are debating bills that would cover emotional and mental distress and post-traumatic stress disorder.
If these bills pass, staffing firms will need to pay careful attention to how they will affect the cost of their workers’ comp coverage and the kinds of risks they take on. Arizona’s PTSD bill only applies to police and firefighters, but it could set a precedent for other types PTSD in the workplace. Connecticut’s bill targets employees with emotional fallout from “extreme workplace violence.” It will not only increase costs for staffing firms, temporary employees who suffer from this distress will likely require special accommodations.
Should these laws come to fruition, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), can sort out the tangled web of workers’ comp rules and regulations. Please call us for a FREE workers’ compensation quote at 202-302-1212. Or visit us as www.StaffingCompSolutions.com.
All the best
David Schek
President-Work Comp Staffing Solutions