Missouri Business Leaders Outline Agenda to Create, Keep Jobs

Business leaders in Missouri are asking state lawmakers for reforms that they say will help protect and create jobs. Among the priorities for the Fix the Six Coalition are six bottom-line issues for Missouri employers: employment law reform; workers’ compensation reform; tort reform; unemployment insurance reform; franchise tax cap; and elimination of the minimum wage escalator, according to the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.

Daniel P. Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a Coalition member, said the agenda would have “no fiscal impact on state revenues.” The coalition believes the revenue neutrality of the each priority is a key component of the proposal. Proponents also contend that no other proposal that could go before the General Assembly has as great a potential to grow Missouri revenues.

Two of the priorities are traditionally of interest to the the insurance industry – workers’ compensation and tort reform.

Workers’ Compensation Reform

The Coalition says that unintended consequences of workers’ comp reforms passed in 2005 could catch businesses off guard, because these changes are being interpreted to exclude protections for incidents that have been covered by the workers’ compensation system for decades.

Following the court case Robinson v. Hooker, employees who sustain work-related injuries may sue co-employees for negligence in a civil action. Missouri employers may find it difficult to recruit and retain employees in key supervisory and safety positions without offering to indemnify them against lawsuits from co-workers, according to the Coalition.

In the Franklin v. CertainTeed Corp. case, the court ruled that occupational diseases are no longer the exclusive domain of workers’ compensation. As a result, such cases may instead be pursued in civil court for damages against employers. The Fix the Six Coalition advocates reversing these court cases and codifying the intent of the 2005 reforms.

Tort Reform

The Coalition said the overall litigation environment affects whether and how companies do business in Missouri. A specific disadvantage is the current law for assigning fault and business liability known as modified joint and several liability. Under the law, businesses can be held liable for the entire cost of litigation if found to be 51 percent or more at fault in the case, even if there are multiple businesses at fault for alleged damages. The Fix the Six Coalition advocates the adoption of a pure several liability system.