Iowa Gov. Vetoes Bill That Would Have Spared Insurers From Paying Twice for Injury

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has vetoed a bill that would have remedied a court ruling that requires insurers to pay again for a first injury when a worker suffers a second injury.

“Senate File 2190 would have corrected a very unfair situation in Iowa’s workers’ compensation system,” National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) Counsel Ann Weber commented in lamenting the veto.”

“There is no question but that employers are responsible for damage caused by a work-related injury or subsequent injuries,” she added. “But that liability should be limited to the incremental cost of the second or subsequent injury. Employers should not have to pay again and again for damage caused by the first injury.”

SF 2190 was designed to eliminate such double payments that resulted from two Iowa Supreme Court rulings in 1995 and a recent decision, Venegas v. IBM, Inc., that extended those rulings.

“Prior to 1995, when previously paid benefits were apportioned against subsequent injuries, employers did not incur additional financial liability by hiring someone who had been injured before,” Weber said. “They also were not penalized for finding other work for a valued employee who had been injured.

“Overturning those court decisions would have benefited employers and employees alike, and would again have made the system fairer.”

Topics Carriers Iowa