Mo. Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Workers’ Comp Law

Did lawmakers fix Missouri’s broken system of compensating people for workplace injuries? Or did they pass a draconian change that reverted workers’ rights to the 19th century?

Those are the contradictory views the Missouri Supreme Court is considering as part of a labor-union challenge to Missouri’s 2005 workers’ compensation law.

Attorneys for the state argued to the high court that the change was merely a matter of legislative prerogative and fixed a system that had become tilted against employers.

An attorney for labor groups claimed the 2005 law leaves many injured workers without a way to obtain justice by making their cases harder to prove. Labor unions claim the new law breaks the protections given to workers in Missouri’s original 1926 law.