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Second injury fund top target of report
JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A fund set up to make it easier for employers to hire and keep workers who have injuries or disabilities would be scuttled if the Legislature follows recommendations from a panel Gov. Mark Sanford appointed.
An analysis by The Associated Press of employers drawing the most benefits from that program shows doing away with the program could cost taxpayers and some of the state's largest employers while leading to fewer jobs for people with workplace injuries and disabilities.
That's the case with two South Carolina grocery chains that rank in the top 10 for payments for worker injuries through the fund.
"We're not in favor of getting rid of the Second Injury Fund," Rita Postell, spokeswoman for Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. Inc. in Charleston, said. The fund has paid nearly $2.5 million in claims to Piggly Wiggly since 2002, according to data from the Second Injury fund.
The fund has helped the grocery chain "because it allows us to put people who have been injured back to work," Postell said. Without it, "we may not be able to do that - so it's a benefit to the employees as well as the company."
Bi-Lo Llc in Mauldin has been paid nearly $4.3 million through claims since 2002, the data shows.
Doing away with the program would affect hiring prospects for people with past injuries or disabilities, said Warren Wilhoit, who handles worker's compensation issues for the grocery chain.
"We will have to be more selective in the hiring process. That means that individuals that fill out the health care questionnaire noting previous problems may be impacted," Wilhoit said in an e-mail.
"Why would any company take on a known risk that they were offsetting by the fund continue to take on such risks if the fund were abolished?" Wilhoit asked.
One of the chief complaints about the system is that the benefits end up mostly in large companies who are knowledgeable enough about how the program works to reap benefits.
Bi-Lo is one of those companies. While the company had $4.3 million in claims, it paid $3.7 million in assessments, a difference of more than $530,000.
Wilhoit said Bi-Lo operates in the black with the program because it aggressively pursues claims recovery. That begins when new hires fill out medical questionnaires, he said.
On the other hand, Michelin North America Inc., the largest beneficiary of the payouts from the fund at $6.2 million since 2002, wants to get rid of it.
Michelin has joined a group called the South Carolina Civil Justice Coalition and will work to abolish the fund out of concern for the "long-term heath" of the state's business community, Michelin spokeswoman Lynn Mann said.
"We believe that the Second Injury Fund is bad for small business," Mann said.
Six of the other top 10 employers getting money from the system are state agencies, including: the Transportation Department, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Department of Mental Health, Department of Public Safety and Corrections Department.
If the Second Injury Fund is eliminated, "they'll have increased worker's compensation costs as well," said Doug Crossman, the fund's executive director. That could raise the operating costs for all state agencies, he said.
Otis Rawl, a chief lobbyist for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, says it is time to get rid of the fund. Small businesses are contributing far more into the system than they are getting out of it, he said. It has helped most those companies that "understood the system and had the capabilities ... to work the system," Rawl said.
Others now see it as a "slush fund to settle out accounts for people who can afford to work the system," Rawl said.
Rawl and others say employers don't need the incentive to hire workers with past work injuries because the Americans with Disabilities Act protects them from discrimination.
But that federal law doesn't affect employers with fewer than 15 people on their payrolls, said Harriett Johnson, a Charleston lawyer specializing in disability issues.
She said doing away with the Second Injury Fund will "absolutely create an economic incentive for discrimination." Ultimately, Johnson said, that will lead to more people out of work and seeking public benefits.
