South Carolina Governor Drops Workers’ Comp Payment Fight

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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has backed away from efforts to force the state Workers’ Compensation Commission to accept new injury payment standards, accepting a settlement agreement that would end months of legal wrangling if South Carolina’s highest court approves the deal.

“We’re pleased to be moving forward with the commission on a mutually agreeable settlement, and we hope the court gives it favorable consideration,” Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said July 17.

The state’s high court must now decide whether to accept the deal.

The dispute arose from Sanford’s actions last year after the Legislature overhauled the state’s workers’ compensation laws. During debate, legislators twice rejected attempts to impose guidelines of the American Medical Association in deciding injury awards.

Last fall, Sanford issued executive orders for the commission to use the AMA-backed guidelines, or similar ones — before ultimately asking the Supreme Court to decide the matter. Sanford saw himself acting to clarify the law, while the commission saw him trying to impose a new interpretation of the law.

Sanford had argued the AMA standards would cut workers’ compensation costs by linking awards to objective criteria while reducing attorney involvement and fees.

But opponents countered that those standards don’t consider the type of work people perform, only a body’s physical limitations after injury. For instance, they say, an engineer’s ability to use her hands is less of an impairment than the same injury for a carpenter.

In the settlement, Sanford concedes commissioners obey judicial rules and “have the duty to be independent, impartial and faithful to the law and not consider communications” outside of the people involved in their cases. Sanford and the commission also recognize that state statutes and regulations cannot be changed’ without the Legislature.

The fracas began in September 2007 when Sanford issued an executive order that said the Workers’ Compensation Commission was part of the executive branch and ordering commission members to use objective criteria like AMA guidelines. He also told them to report on how they had complied with his order every three months.

But the commission refused to go along, saying it was not something approved by lawmakers.

Meanwhile, a handful of claimants filed a federal lawsuit saying Sanford’s actions intruded on their privacy and how their cases were handled. The individuals who brought the original federal lawsuit haven’t agreed to a settlement and want the Supreme Court to appoint a mediator, according to their lawyer, Thomas Ervin. They’re still pursuing the federal case.