Chicago Tribune Editorial: Chicago workers' comp: $100 million a year, but no oversight

Alderman Edward Burke Chicago 14 Th Ward.jpg

Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.
It might be tempting to brush off a lawsuit filed recently against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, as politically motivated.

Two longtime critics of City Hall accuse Emanuel and Burke of violating Illinois law and the state and U.S. constitutions. The alleged infraction? Allowing Burke, through the City Council Finance Committee he chairs, to administer the city’s workers’ compensation program. The suit argues that the program, which costs taxpayers at least $100 million per year, according to a 2016 inspector general report, should be run by a City Hall agency, human resources professionals or the Law Department.

The suit says the current arrangement — which is spelled out in the Chicago Municipal Code — is unconstitutional because it assigns executive functions to the legislative branch. We’ll leave that question to the courts. There’s zero doubt, however, that vesting complete control of the workers’ comp fund in a single committee chair, shielded from oversight, is a terrible idea.

Burke’s role as the gatekeeper of workers’ comp benefits for the entire city of Chicago invites cynicism, and rightfully so. The lawsuit alleges that Burke, who has chaired the finance committee for 33 of the last 35 years, leverages his position to load up his staff with patronage workers. The role also allows him to dole out favors as he determines the outcomes of hundreds of cases of city workers who claim they were injured on the job.

The lawsuit says jobs and disability benefits are awarded to precinct captains and others who help secure votes for Burke and candidates he supports. It says Emanuel has relinquished control of the workers’ comp fund to Burke because Burke helps round up City Council votes for measures pushed by the mayor. We’d like to see data to back up those claims, but that’s the point. Everything ends at Burke.

We have long argued, along with a few members of the City Council, that city Inspector General Joe Ferguson should have the authority to audit the program. Someone other than Burke and his staff should be reviewing cases and claims that involve public workers and taxpayer money.

But Burke, assisted by weak-kneed aldermen, has managed to wall off his committee from the purview of Ferguson’s office. The City Council in 2016 helped him by gutting an ordinance that would have given Ferguson the authority to examine Burke’s books. This was after many aldermen claimed to be in favor of it a year earlier, during election season. Then they flipped.

It was outrageous then and it’s outrageous now.

By comparison, Cook County’s workers’ comp committee, chaired by County Board member Tim Schneider, R-Bartlett, reviews and signs off on decisions that are made by experts in the county’s risk management department and the state’s attorney’s office. Schneider doesn’t have a staff. He isn’t negotiating compensation decisions. And the committee and its cases are open to the scrutiny of the county inspector general and the public. Cases that require a settlement eventually come to the full County Board for approval.

At the state level, it’s similar. Lawmakers who head up House and Senate committees on public health or transportation or education don’t actually administer programs in those subject areas. The agency heads and staff who work for the state of Illinois do.

The federal lawsuit filed by Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough — two activists with a long history of fighting City Hall — asks a judge to order the city to assign the workers’ comp program to the executive branch and to grant the inspector general permission to conduct an audit and claims review and to release the results to the public. For now, City Hall isn’t commenting.

We’re happy the plaintiffs are calling attention to an issue Chicago’s elected officials have worked very hard to duck.

Emanuel and every candidate on the ballot in 2019 should be on the hot seat regarding this question: Why should an elected alderman continue to act as a program administrator, in the dark, on an issue as expensive and important as workers’ comp? And why should he (or anyone) operate outside the watchful eye of an inspector general?

It’s a blot on Chicago government that is long overdue for a fix. Who will have the guts to do it?

Crisis looms in Illinois workers’ compensation system thanks to Emanuel and Alderman Burke

Rahm Emanuel Picture.jpg The News-Gazette

By DR. DAVID FLETCHER

There’s a crisis looming in our state’s workers’ compensation system. If allowed to fester, it will keep workers from receiving timely medical treatment for workplace injuries. It will delay workers’ recoveries and their return to their jobs. And it will end up costing more for the very businesses and insurers seeking efficiencies in the system.

This crisis is not one you’ve heard about from the business and insurance communities. It’s a crisis created by their failure to implement laws that have been on the books in Illinois for more than a decade.

As doctors who care for workers compensation patients, here are our concerns: Illinois law spells out the right for medical professionals to receive prompt payment for the care we give to patients with workplace injuries.

Just like any other business or profession, we need to be paid for that care we give, so that we can compensate our employees and keep open the doors of our medical practices.

Yet, many Illinois workers’ compensation insurers completely ignore the prompt payment law. To date, there has been no remedy for doctors and other caregivers who remain unpaid for months and months at a time.

Furthermore, state law mandates that insurers accept electronic billing and documentation for workers’ compensation claims. This expedites the process.

Yet, many insist on an obsolete paper-based medical billing system, which delays medical care to injured workers and wastes resources.

Add to this bleak reality a recent, alarming increase in delayed payments for already-approved workers’ compensation medical care claims. The result is more and more physicians unable or unwilling to treat injured workers.

Since 2005, the Workers’ Compensation Act has allowed medical professionals a late interest penalty for approved workers’ compensation medical care.

Yet there is no way for doctors and others to enforce or collect this interest.

Even if the workers’ compensation insurer approves care for an injured worker, it can and often delays payment for the medical treatment rendered. These delays can last for years.

A recent court ruling found that medical professionals can’t even go to court to collect this interest.

Since the court decision, these payment delays have worsened to the point of doctors dropping out of the system.

What’s lost in the current debate on workers’ compensation policy is that medical professionals — the physicians, surgeons, hospitals and specialists — actually provide the care that supports our entire system.

Medical professionals are the ones who get injured employees back to work, reduce employer costs for time off and long-term injuries and work with employers to prevent work-related accidents from even happening in the first place.

We are often blamed for the system’s ills, even though we are in a unique position to make that system function.

When workers are hurt on the job, they need timely access to dedicated physicians, surgeons and specialists to treat their injuries. We in the medical community stand ready with solutions to the problems that are threatening the health of our workers’ compensation system.

It’s time to pass legislation that forces workers’ compensation insurers to start following the law. The alternative is having doctors and care centers rush to the exits.

John Maszinski, who works for the Illinois State Medical Society, submitted this piece by Dr. David Fletcher of Champaign.

Reginald Williams vs. City of Chicago vs. Alderman Burke Video


On September 27, 2017, Reginald williams, a City of Chicago injured worker, exposes Alderman Burke, Anne M. Burke, Monica Sommerville, fraud, bogus lawyers, doctors, delays, scams. Please file complaints on all these bums to the ARDC. Workers need their workers compensation benefits when they get hurt. George Tamvakis, Neal Strom, bad lawyers.

Reginald Williams Sr. Blows whistle on CDOT, Alderman Burke, Monica Somerville and the IWCC

On January 7, 2013, city worker Reginald Williams Sr., who has worked with the Department of Transportation for over 20 years was injured on the job.

He was a passenger in an 18-wheel city truck when the driver miscalculated the height of a viaduct and ran into the overpass. The impact injured everyone riding in the cab and an ambulance was dispatched.

The next day, Williams was instructed to go to Mercy Works for Occupational Medicine and see the doctors that are part of the city’s workers’ compensation network.

Shortly after his accident, Williams applied for workmen’s compensation and was immediately awarded monthly benefits that started the same month of the accident, January 2013 and lasted until December 2014.

In a letter dated January 14, 2015, Monica Somerville, Director of the Workers’ Compensation Division, stated that Williams was to complete the paper work to be reinstated to “full duty” work in an “unrestricted capacity.” The letter was based on a Dr. Levin’s Independent Medical Examiner’s (IME) report that was written on December 3, 2014.

Dr. Levin, in addition to that report, also wrote a 53-page report addressed to a Patricia O’Connor chronicling Williams’ medical history throughout the life of his claim. The report is a compilation of all the visits that Williams made to the doctor’s office regarding his conditions while he received benefits, benefits that lasted for twenty-three months.

“I contacted my attorney and asked how could they terminate my benefits. He said it was based on the MRI report and the doctor’s opinion that I was able to go back to work full time,” Williams stated. “I told my attorney that someone was lying and he said we have to wait to see the report.”

Williams ended up firing his first attorney and hiring another after weeks went by with no progress on his case. Subsequently, he hired another attorney who also didn’t make any substantial progress and he too was fired after several months.

After obtaining a copy of the report, according to Williams, he came to the conclusion that Dr. Levin had incorrect information about his shoulder that wasn’t injured in the accident and somehow this information was used to justify terminating his case.

Attorney Mark Weissburg, who isn’t affiliated with the case, but specializes in Social Security and Workers’ Compensation is all too familiar with the decision to terminate clients.

“The City would have to explain its decision making process. Some employers fire injured workers as a way of scaring the remaining employees so they don’t report work injuries,” Weissburg said. “Other times an employer fails to follow the law and acts in ways that are contrary to the word and intent of the Workers’ Compensation Act.”

Throughout the 53 page report, it’s indisputably noted that Williams continues to experience severe back pain, and is commented on by several of the doctors that Dr. Levin uses in his final report.

“I continue to be in constant pain while taking Norco and Dr. Levin knows that I am,” Williams said. “I am sad that my request for surgery has been denied even though I did everything the city told my doctors to do. Just when I thought the city was about to approve my surgery, Dr. Levin said I didn’t need it. And my benefits were terminated.”

Attorney Weissburg said, “I’ve seen employers make decisions that not only hurt the injured worker, but are also not in the employer’s own best interests. When there are reasonable questions regarding the facts of a work injury, those should be investigated, but when it is clear that a worker was injured at work, the appropriate benefits should be paid in a timely manner.”

The question some ask is how the city of Chicago and one of its affiliated doctors says it is okay for a city employee, who is taking one of the most powerful pain killers known to man, to return to work in “full duty” in an “unrestricted capacity.”

The warning label for Norco states: “This medication may impair your thinking or reactions. Avoid driving or operating machinery until you know how Norco will affect you. Dizziness or severe drowsiness can cause falls or other accidents.”

The Chicago Defender attempted to contact Dr. Levin, Monica Somerville from Workers’ Compensation and Mr. Williams’ attorney, George Argionis, all declined to comment on this story.

Reginald Williams challenges Alderman Buke and Committee on Finance

Patrick McDonough Jay Stone The Chicago Defender final.jpg On January 7, 2013, Reginald Williams Sr. was involved in an accident while working for the City of Chicago. To make his story simple is not possible due to Alderman Burke and the carnival barkers over at the City of Chicago Committee on Finance. Alderman Burke loves this position lording over the Committee on Finance because he can shake down medical providers for campaign contributions. Venders feel pressure when the phone calls come in to “donate” to political campaigns of Burke’s choice. Vendors also feel pressure, when the Committee on Finance wants non-political injured employees to be released back to work or issued MMI decisions. Many Chicago City workers are forced back to work injured and become addicted to opiates and other pain killers, to get through the day. That is part of the reason for the illegal drug trade at the City of Chicago. It is also a reason why Mayor Rahm Emanuel refuses to drug test all employees.
The treatment the city of Chicago gave to Reginald Williams, Sr. is truly a violation of the Illinois Workers Compensation Board. When an employee is injured, they should expect great medical care in a timely manner. The City of Chicago routinely has injured employees waiting for months for medical approvals, physical therapy, and surgeries. Many City employees never get the medications they desperately need. The City of Chicago relies on medical providers like Med Risk and Coventry to provide the minimum necessary treatment. They also make medical decisions although they are not doctors. The decisions they make are not based on an actual physical contact, amazing.
The Committee on Finance does not provide medical decisions in writing to the injured, it is all a secret. In fact, The Illinois Attorney General is attempting to force the Committee on Finance to release my medical records.
There is little doubt Alderman Burke fires black city workers to send a message of terror to “play along with the program”. Maybe Alderman Burke should explain to his wife and all Chicago taxpayers why he is so smitten with Monica Somerville, the executioner for the Committee on Finance. Stopping Mr. Williams pay is cruel and unusual punishment.
Monica Somerville is a fired City lawyer that falsely accused her boss of misconduct. Monica Somerville should explain why she is not on the Chicago “Do Not Hire List”. Allegedly she was also picked up on the Southside of Chicago by the police in a haze.
The Chicago Defender did a great article about Mr. Williams so make sure you google that.
Paris Schultz of Wttw Chicago tonight had an excellent interview with Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough regarding the treatment of injured Chicago City Workers. On April 6th 2016, Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough were invited to The Chicago Defender with several black Chicago City Workers that also spoke to attorneys to explain the way Chicago handles workers’ compensation claims. Ken Hare a former reporter at the Defender sat on the story killing the momentum created by Jay Stone.
Finally, a decision was made on August 8, 2016 to reward Reginald Willams what was fairly due him. Reginald Williams attorney is Al Koritsaris claiming a victory. The Attorney from the City of Chicago Corporation Counsel is Nancy J Shepard. Last I heard, the City is going to appeal, just to be ignorant. The Case number is 13WC002370
I strongly suggest everyone read this.
Please remember the Chicago Inspector General has done nothing despite complaints. Joe Ferguson needs to do his job or he needs to quit. All he worries about is getting his moldy nose on the suntimes. UGGGG.Reginald Williams Sr. Workers Compensation Claim 13WC002370.pdf