What Happened?
With injured-on-duty pay doubling in the last 4 years, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has recommended cutting compensation of injured city employees to two-thirds of workers’ pay, down from the full salary compensation offered to hurt employees for six months after sustaining an injury offered presently, projected to save more than $1 million a year.
So What?
In response to the proposed cuts, the Nashville Firefighters union and the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police are fighting to maintain current compensation benefits, despite the state of Tennessee offering its injured employees two-thirds of their full salary. Nashville’s injured-on-duty pay has increased from $1.8 million in 2008 to $3.5 million currently, taking up a significant portion of the budget and increasing suspicion of worker abuse of the benefit.
Compensation Reforms In TN
In Tennessee, lawmakers have proposed a workers’ compensation reform bill to revamp the system and make it more attractive to businesses to setup shop in the state while protecting injured employees. Under the bill, employers would see a reduction in costs and increased predictability through more efficient claims processing. Furthermore, injured employees will receive benefits faster and have assistance in finding a physician to accelerate the recovery process. Because workers’ compensation cases are settled in the courts, Tennessee costs are high and reforms were deemed necessary. Under the bill:
- A court of workers’ compensation claims is created to file employee claims, reducing reliance on the court system
- Eliminates advantages for employees or employers in the workers’ compensation claims process
- Disability benefits for injured workers up to 450 weeks instead of 400 weeks
- Development of advisory medical treatment guidelines to treat injured workers
St. Louis Evaluating Firemen Retirement System
The St. Louis Firemen’s Retirement System offers employees significant perks and retirement benefits other public workers do not enjoy, such as three retirement plan options and bonus pay in rue of unused sick days. The city board is concerned with:
- More than $40,000 in bonus pay over the past 25 years, typically deemed illegal by state law
- Retirement system pays 6 percent extra into monthly checks to support retirement, inflating salaries by thousands
- Retroactively credited retirement accounts for employees including interest
- Extensive protections to reduce employee investment risk
Proposed reforms to the firemen’s retirement system set forth last year included:
- Starting a less expensive system with less add-on perks and reductions in disability pension to ward off abuse
- City law would govern the system, rather than state, incorporating the firemen’s union into the city’s civil service program for increased oversight
The reforms have yet to be passed and are currently held up by litigation discussing the legality of the changes.
Public Benefits Reworked
Gov1 has followed different efforts to reform fire department disability benefits as well as reduce pension costs to balance budgets.