Council Acts to Reduce Workers’ Injury Claims

The City Council on Friday implemented a number of reforms aimed at reducing the city’s skyrocketing workers’ compensation payouts.

The amount spent by the city to process and pay injury claims has risen from $80 million in 1991 to $116 million last year, despite goals to cut cost by 20%, officials said.

“We have not addressed workers’ compensation other than to pay the bills,” Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg told her colleagues.

As a result, Goldberg and Councilwoman Laura Chick urged the council to adopt a lengthy list of fixes, including establishing a citywide program aimed at tracking injured employees and helping them to return to work. The council action also calls for setting up a special risk management division, which will study work sites to identify--and eliminate--hazardous conditions.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg on what we need to do citywide,” Chick said.

The council must now appeal to Mayor Richard Riordan to allocate the funding for the reforms. Officials say it is unclear how much the fixes will cost.