11-9-2020; Biden Wins, Pritzker Loses HIs Tax Hike--What Does It Mean for Work Comp?; IL WC Appellate Court Ruling of Interest and more

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Synopsis: Biden Wins; Pritzker Loses His Tax Hike; What Does It Mean for Work Comp?

 

Editor’s comment: I congratulate President-to-be Joseph Biden and forward condolences to the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump. It is our strong hope our country will continue to thrive and survive. From incoming President Biden, I feel certain we are going to see:

 

  • Ramped up efforts to stomp out the Great Pandemic of 2020;

 

  • Trillions more in government borrowing for “stimulus” packages to hopefully get us past the economic crisis brought on by the Great Pandemic but continue to steep our country in lots of debt;

 

  • “Black Lives Will Matter” and it is about time—it is my hope sworn police officers start to act like actual “officers” and not like drunken biker gangs;

 

  • Global Warming will again return to public discourse and debate; hopefully before we all cook ourselves in the oven this planet is unquestionably turning into.

 

What does it mean to the World of Work Comp?

 

Well, I am seeing some but not zillions of COVID WC claims. These odd claims are going to work themselves through the WC systems in all five States we handle and defend our insurance and self-insured employers. As I have advised, they are either moderately irritating “flu” claims without a great deal of value/reserves or, in stark contrast, work-related death claims that have gigantic value and business-busting reserves. The defense team at KCB&A warn all U.S. employers--you have to continue to employ PPE, masks and whatever you need to avoid new infections. If you get a “super-spreader” in your workforce who infects and possibly kills lots of your workers, you may find your company or government in bankruptcy and yourself on a bread line. Don’t be misled, keep on dealing with the Great Pandemic until it is erased by a vaccine or herd immunity.

 

I consider there to be a mania about presumptive coverage for “first responders” that may continue or intensify, so as to provide untouchable coverage and benefits for police, fire, medical and other similar occupations. I feel this sort of global work comp coverage for such workers is going to expand even after the Great Pandemic is over. I don’t feel such legislation was needed, as our administrators across the country wouldn’t put up with baseless denials. It is my concern that, once we start global and unrebuttable coverage for COVID, that is going to apply to any goofy thing a police officer or firefighter claims. Trust me, that is going to cost a lot of money.

 

I do feel reasonable economic stimulus packages are needed but I hate to see our country go even further into the abyss of debt we are already in and getting worse every minute. The folks at usdebtclock.com feel we have more than $27 trillion in national debt. That number terrifies me and I hope all Federal and State legislators start to see it for the threat to our country that it is.

 

What Did Our Nutty IL Governor Pritzker Just Lose With His Proposed Tax Hike and When Will His Silly Illinois State Government Start to Reform Itself And Make Fiscal Sense?

 

IL’s Zillionaire Governor JB Pritzker just did something I consider, for lack of a better term, borderline insane. He donated over $60M of his own bucks to support a constitutional amendment to strip away protections against uneven income taxation. I don’t know if any Governor in any State has ever spent that sort of money to basically put the blocks to taxpayers.

 

The problem he is now going to have to face is what to do to get IL State Government back to any sense of being on sound financial footing in the next twenty-thirty years. After his embarrassing loss, he is now faced with cutting government and salaries and benefits which will cause pain to his strongest supporters—government unions and workers who all supported and voted for him to insure he would “protect” them and the billions of tax-free dollars they are raking in every day of every year from the day they started in their government jobs until they die of old age. I consider fake IL Gov’t pensions to be a shameless scam—these retirees are getting something in the hundreds of billions for absolutely nothing. If you don’t understand what I mean, please send a reply and I will explain it to your satisfaction.

 

Trust me, the State of Illinois is as “bankrupt” and poorly designed as a business as any in the history of bad businesses/governments. Someone is going to have to take the reins and say—“ENOUGH!” When our dads and moms were raising us and they got short on money, they cut their budgets to the bone. Someone in IL State Government has to start recognizing they are literally hundreds of billions in debt and budget cuts should come first before you go to taxpayers and start stripping out more taxes, tolls and fees that are already among the highest in the country, if not the world.

 

It is my view, IL State Government and many IL local governments are over-staffed, over-paid and “over-retired.” The State of IL has 88 State agencies with dramatically overlapping, redundant and unneeded workers. As one example, our IL State government has seven, count ‘em, seven different police departments with seven different police department chiefs and HR directors and redundant managers and line workers. The IL General Assembly has “representatives” and “senators” who each represent exactly the same people! That is 120 IL legislators and staffs—could we find a way to get along with half of all those pay-rollers and cigar chompers? Please also note those 120 legislators only have to work in the General Assembly for two terms or four short years to then be insured they will receive lifetime tax-free fake pensions and healthcare coverage that can pay them literally millions of dollars to the day they pass. One such IL legislator put about $100K into his unfundable IL Gov’t fake pension and has already collected about $3.7M from the scam, I mean, plan. To my understanding, there are about 700,000 IL gov’t pensioners with unfundable fake gov’t pensions that are certain to bankrupt this nutty State if budget cuts and gov’t pension reform don’t follow.

 

From the perspective of the IL WC Commission, I haven’t seen any effort to try to maximize the great talent they have and minimize rising costs. Please note the number of IL WC claims has greatly decreased in the last decade or so, while IWCC staff and budgets have increased. We have over 30 Arbitrators--I feel the IWCC could get along with half that number once budget cuts were in place. We now have 27 lawyers at the second administrative appeal level—our Commissioners and their staff attorneys. As I have advised in the past, if each of those 27 attorneys would issue one contested decision a week, they would have literally nothing to do in about ninety days. Budget cuts and consolidation should be considered a no-brainer at the IWCC and all IL State gov’t agencies.

 

In short, some day, some way, I hope to see budget cuts and efficiencies and common sense start to happen in Illinois and other similar States. If it doesn’t start and continue, I am sure the piles of unpaid bills and escalating taxes will continue until our great-great-grandchildren have the guts to do something. I hate to think of our State become a larger version of the financial miasma that is the City of Detroit.

 

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please post them on our award-winning blog.

 

 

Synopsis: Rule 23 IL Appellate Court Ruling confirms their view “loss of trade” for gov’t worker doesn’t have to relate to income loss because income from gov’t benefits isn’t actually income?

 

Editor’s comment: My readers know I am not a fan of IL Rule 23 Appellate Court decisions that are unquestionably published but are supposed to be magically “non-published.” If you don’t understand what a published “non-published” court ruling is, send a reply and I will try to explain it.

In their recent decision in City of Peoria v. IWCC, the IL Appellate Court considered a claim for a woman police officer who, in the course of her sworn duties trying to apprehend a bad guy or girl, badly broke an ankle on the job. She underwent surgery and has permanent issues. I respect her and feel sorry for her sacrifice and hope she recovers as much as one possibly can from such injuries.

 

But if you take a look at my article above, in other States, this sworn police officer wouldn’t be pensioned off when there is lots of work she can and should be doing at a desk job. Whenever I go into any police department, there are lots and lots of police officers sitting at desks. As you read this, probably thousands of sworn police officers across our country are working at desk jobs—there is no shame in having to work a desk or handle a 911 radio/phone system. You need to speak “cop talk” to handle those jobs.

 

But this officer was given a lifetime line of duty disability pension and other benefits. Please note she can find other work and make more money—just not police work. Along with the pension, the Arbitrator and IWCC provided her what I call a “going away present” of 40% body as a whole that I assume is probably six figures of tax-free income from the taxpayers of the City of Peoria. It appears obvious to me someone in gov’t management objected and appealed the award all the way to the Appellate Court, WC division to point out there is no true “loss of income” when this officer is certain to receive the pension and other benefits she is statutorily provided.

 

In my respectful view, the decision of the Appellate Court majority holds the income derived from benefits isn’t actually income under Section 8(d-2) of the IL WC Act so the IWCC’s ruling was affirmed. In my view, the logic of that matches the logic of published “unpublished” decisions—you have to be a lawyer to smile when you hear it.

 

If you want to know why the IWCC picked 40% BAW over 20% or 90%, all I can say is you and I need a Ouija board to figure that one out—in my view, there is no science or guidance that will ever answer that question.

 

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please post them on our award-winning blog. If you want the link to the ruling, send a reply.