OK lawmaker wants to Dissolve Workers Comp System

Lawmaker wants to model Okla. workers’ comp after Ark. system

November 20, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa, is going to try again. For the 2009 legislative session, he plans to file a bill to replace the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court with an administrative system.

“My plan would dismantle our lawsuit-based Workers’ Compensation Court and replace it with an administrative system modeled after the successful Arkansas system,” said McCullough.

It won’t be the first time McCullough has tried to pass similar legislation. And McCullough is not the first lawmaker to entertain this idea – efforts to change Oklahoma’s system from a court to an administrative system have been ongoing since at least the 1980s. McCullough filed last year’s House Bill 2605, which lay dormant less than two months into the legislative session after it failed to receive a vote on the House floor in time to meet the legislative deadline.

An administrative system would create a framework where injured workers could pursue their claims out of court, creating a non-judicial procedure for dispute resolution.

Only after exhausting administrative remedies would workers be able to appeal to the court system, thereby reducing the use of and maximum legal fees allowed for attorneys.

Despite the weight of the many arguments that have been made in favor of an administrative workers’ compensation system, attempts to obliterate the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court have so far been unsuccessful.

Mike Seney, senior vice president of operations for The State Chamber, said the measure might keep failing because it has been difficult to garner support for such a sweeping, rapid change.

“This would be a very involved process, scrapping the entire system and replacing it with another system,” said Seney. Certain portions of the old system, like fee schedules, might be preserved, but the mechanisms for dispute resolution would be completely revamped.

But this year might be different, said Seney, due to one important development: the “frustration factor.”

“There is a lot of frustration out there with the current court,” said Seney. “The current system has created this billion-dollar cottage industry of a few attorneys who have turned the court into their own private playpen, and they like playing in it. There are only about 150 lawyers who are making their entire living off of our workers’ compensation system.”

McCullough said his plan would emphasize treatment and rehabilitation for injured workers, rather than providing high payouts for attorneys.

“It’s obvious to all that our system is broken,” said McCullough. “We can’t solve this problem by tinkering with the system. We need to reform it to include every best practice and efficiency. I hope 2009 is the year we finally fix the system.”

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