Crains New York - June 3, 2013 - (Page 10)
OPINION
CRAIN’S
Fixing workers’ comp
C
orruption, campaign finance reform and
fracking may be hot topics in Albany, but
rank-and-file businesses across the state
are more concerned about a less
sensational subject: workers’
compensation. While it’s not an issue
that propels political careers, New York’s
system costs a whopping $6 billion a year. Surveys show only
health insurance to be a greater worry for business owners.
Workers’ compensation reform happens rarely in New
York because powerful vested interests—notably the plaintiff
bar—are adept at maintaining what, for them, is a lucrative
status quo. Aside from some key changes won by Gov.
Andrew Cuomo in this year’s budget, the last significant fix
was in the early days of the Spitzer administration. That 2007
change broadened the distribution of money, the vast
majority of which had been going to a small fraction of
workers injured on the job. But the savings that businesses
were projected to realize have been overwhelmed by rising
costs that were ignored or even abetted by the Spitzer reform.
With three weeks remaining in the 2013 session, there is
little hope that legislators will make any more improvements
this year. In fact, the business lobby is currently occupied—as
it often is—with blocking bills that would make the system
worse. The trial lawyers’ lobby knows its best defense is a
good offense, so it pushes poisonous bills that consume the
business community’s attention and resources.
Meanwhile, the Cuomo administration has shifted its
CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL
NEW YORK BUSINESS
editor in chief Rance Crain
publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan
efforts to improvements it can make administratively. In
fact, it implemented one just last week: The Workers’
Compensation Board, after seven months of intensive
advocacy by the Business Council of New York State,
declared that injured employees can be assumed to have
reached “maximum medical improvement” after two years.
Even though the healing process for nearly all injuries rarely
exceeds eight months, businesses hailed the new policy as a
victory because lawyers had been dragging out cases,
allowing their “still healing” clients to milk the system for six
years of interim payments before starting the 10-year
compensation clock
established by the 2007
reform.
But many similar
quirks remain
unaddressed, notably
the outdated schedules
that dictate how long
workers are paid for a
given injury. Thanks to
advances in medical
care, ailments that once persisted for months or years are
now fixed in a fraction of that time—yet the gravy train of
yesteryear rolls on. That should be addressed this year by Mr.
Cuomo, and next year he must press the Assembly again for
reforms it denied him in March. The quest for a fair and
rational workers’ compensation system continues.
The quest to
reform an
arcane and
outdated system
COMMENTS
bloomberg news
More bucks from trucks
DOUBLE-PARKED,
DOUBLE TROUBLE
HAS THE NYPD GONE
OVERBOARD WITH ITS
STATUE OF LIBERTY
SECURITY CONCERNS?
Yes. The Battery Park waits are too long, and
screening people as they disembark onto Ellis
Island is fine.
No. Ray Kelly knows how to keep the city safe.
Passengers should be screened before getting
on any park-bound boat.
Date of poll: May 28
145 votes
14%
86%
FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:
Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say.
10 | Crain’s New York Business | June 3, 2013
You quote a lot of companies
complaining about their city
fines for double-parking, saying
the fines waste money and
inhibit their ability to do
business (“All in the cost of
doing business,” May 27).
How about the millions of
hours of other people’s time
wasted because we’re stuck in
traffic because of doubleparked trucks? How about the
property damaged and lives lost
because fire trucks, rescue
crews and ambulances also
aren’t immune to traffic delays?
It’s one thing to doublepark on a side street away from
an intersection, but doubleparking on avenues creates
huge traffic jams. Perhaps if the
city provided an incentive for
these trucks to pull around the
corner onto streets instead of
avenues, it would at least help
to reduce traffic congestion.
Bigger fines for trucks that
remain double-parked when
there are actually parking
spaces available would be a nice
idea, too.
—shaun breidbart
Pelham, N.Y.
THE UNIONS AND
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Re Greg David’s May 27
column, “Next mayor’s issue:
building-cost gap”: The status
quo in the development of
affordable housing is
unacceptable. For too long,
there have been widespread
problems with the quality of
the affordable housing being
built, misspent tax subsidies to
favored developers, and
millions of dollars taken from
the pockets of the workers who
build affordable homes they
can’t even afford to live in.
Instead of seeking solutions,
the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and its handpicked developers have said no to new
initiatives, including the use of
project labor agreements to
build with union workers. A
market that prioritizes building
the highest number of units
over quality construction produces a large number of poorquality units. According to
HPD, at least 11% of the
affordable, for-sale apartments
on 135 separate projects have
construction problems. The
city’s building trades have
developed a cost-competitive
program for affordable-housing
construction that will save at
least 20% on labor costs alone.
With a PLA for HPD
work, the city could diversify its
contractors, bring competition
to this market, improve the
quality of construction for
those residents who buy HPD
units and protect the workers
who build the housing. Why
the city won’t consider viable
and tested solutions for
reform—such as PLAs—
remains an unsolved mystery.
—robert bonanza
Business manager
Mason Tenders District Council
of Greater NY and Long Island
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - June 3, 2013
Crains New York - June 3, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
REAL ESTATE DEALS
OPINION
GREG DAVID
FOR THE RECORD
TOP ENTREPRENEURS
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE COFFEE
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS
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