Missouri Fund for Injured Workers Stops Paying Claims

Fifty-five people permanently disabled from workplace injuries are owed money from a Missouri fund but are not getting paid because of the fund’s financial troubles.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the attorney general’s office in March began to withhold paying new total disability awards from the fund. Attorney General Chris Koster says the fund by the end of the year would owe $20 million if all liabilities were paid. Plus, there are 28,000 claims pending.

The Missouri Second Injury Fund takes businesses off the hook for paying the claims of workers with conditions who are re-injured on the job. It is financed from a surcharge employers pay on their workers’ compensation insurance. The surcharge was capped in 2005.

Lawmakers could not reach agreement over legislation to address the fund.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch