Workers’ Comp Changes Go Into Effect in Mississippi

Insurers and employers in Mississippi now have greater latitude to conduct alcohol and drug tests on employees following a workplace accident and to reduce benefits for workers with pre-existing conditions.

Under new workers’ compensation laws that recently took effect, employers can now offset benefit payments based on an injured worker’s pre-existing condition. In 1989, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that “not all pre-existing conditions generate a duty to apportion, only those which have produced in the claimant a pre-existing occupational disability.”

Under the new law, all benefits can be offset regardless of whether the pre-existing condition is related to the occupational injury. As a result, obesity, arthritis or diabetes could be used to offset benefit payments for unrelated injuries such as carpel tunnel syndrome or a knee injury.

David Peak, underwriter for the Stone Trust Insurance, said the provision is fair given that workers’ compensation is for on-the-job injuries.

Attorney Rogen Chhabra, who represents injured workers, said there is a danger that employers may use the provision to reduce benefits even though the pre-existing condition has nothing to do with an injury. “In every back injury the insurer can argue there is a degenerative disc regardless of the work assignment,” said Chhabra. “Everyone has a degenerative disc; it’s called getting old.”

Lawmakers also strengthened the alcohol and drug testing law. The new law shifts the burden of proof so that it is presumed that the misuse of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription drugs is the cause of the accident.

The new law also increases some benefits including for serious facial and head injuries that result in permanent disfigurement; the family death benefit and weekly compensation paid during vocational rehabilitation.