Clashes Led to Firings, Discrimination Claims at Ohio Work Comp Council

Internal pressure was mounting for months ahead of the February firings of the staff of an agency charged with protecting the well-being of Ohio’s insurance fund for injured workers.

Public records obtained by The Associated Press reveal frustration among the three staffers of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Council formed in the wake of a sweeping state investment scandal.

Employees complained about the leadership style and priorities of Director Virginia McInerney. McInerney viewed the staff as often disrespectful, moody and at times uncooperative. Caught in the cross hairs was an important analysis the office was preparing on legislation aimed at slowing down changes to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation group insurance discounts for employers.

Ohio operates the largest public insurance fund for injured workers in the U.S. and the group discounts have been a key sticking point. The bureau currently is adjusting the rates after a judge ruled the so-called group rating program unfair to many businesses. The proposed adjustments would in some cases sock longtime favored customers, many large companies with political pull, with higher rates in order to provide discounts to other businesses.

McInerney fired all three employees — two staff attorneys and an executive assistant — on Feb. 16, throwing the council’s work into chaos. The three accused her in letters sent to council members of wrongful discharge, religious discrimination and harassment, age discrimination and retaliation.

State Rep. Dan Dodd, a member of the council and chairman of the House Insurance Committee, has questioned whether the office under McInerney was too politically sensitive and compromised the objectivity of its analysis of the bill involving workers’ comp discounts.

McInerney, a veteran employee of the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission, has strongly denied that partisanship played any role in the office’s work. The analysis provided to the council last month contained no recommendation at all, however, on whether the bill on discounts should be approved or rejected.

Workers’ Compensation Administrator Marsha Ryan joined Dodd’s call for council chairman Stephen Buehrer, a Republican state senator, to convene the full workers’ comp council to discuss the firings.

Dodd and other Democrats have accused House Republican Leader Bill Batchelder of inappropriate communications with McInerney, whose analysis of the group rating bill ultimately included no recommendation at all on the impact it could have on the state’s workers’ comp fund.

Batchelder recommended hiring McInerney after he spearheaded creation of the council in 2007 and was named its first chair.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Batchelder said he has never advised McInerney on any legislation.