Daley says he'll try to fix workers comp problems

Mayor Daley offered Tuesday to work together with Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) to reform a “complicated” workers compensation system that has been open to abuse and has cost Chicago taxpayers millions.

Burke acknowledged his committee only recently restarted undercover surveillance of injured employees after suspending the investigations for an unspecified period of time. There was no money to conduct observations, the alderman said.

Last week, the mayor’s chief of staff pointed the finger at the Finance Committee for the extraordinary rate of injury claims filed by patronage workers.

On Tuesday, Daley went out of his way to share responsibility with Burke, his lifelong political rival.

“Workman’s comp is a problem in both the public and private sector. But we can do a better job and we will do a better job…We’ll take any recommendations working with Ald. Burke…It is a complicated system. But …if changes have to be made, changes will be made,” Daley said.

“The vast majority of employees injured recover and return to full duty. One of the issues is getting some people back to work. That’s an issue. We have talked to Ald. Burke about it, the Finance Committee. We have to look at it very carefully in regards to getting people back to work…We have moved people off the [disability] rolls in regards to getting them back…[But] one case is one too many.”

Daley noted that Illinois is a “no-fault” or “strict liability” state. Employees injured in the workplace are entitled to reimbursement for their injuries regardless of severity, even if they don’t miss work, he said.

The mayor was hardpressed to explain why so many disability claims were filed by people on the “clout list” released during the trial that culminated in the July conviction of the mayor’s former patronage chief and three others.

“I don’t know. I don’t know all of them,” he said. Asked whether it was a mere coincidence, he said, “Well, I don’t know. We’ll be talking to Ald. Burke.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that one in five patronage workers named on a secret clout list kept by Daley’s then-patronage chief filed workers compensation claims, an injury rate far greater than any occupation tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor. Those claims have cost taxpayers more than $38 million.

The newspaper also reported that half of those patronage workers filed at least two injury claims, with a few filing a dozen or more. An estimated 91 workers have been cleared to return to work, but are sitting at home collecting disability checks. Some are collecting more than $40,000 a year while waiting for the city to find them a less physically demanding job.

Three years ago, Daley’s then-Budget Director Bill Abolt blamed the large number of injured employees on extended “duty disability” for a drop-off in sanitation services. He launched what he called an “aggressive back-to-work program.”

At the time, 306 laborers, truck drivers and hoisting engineers were on extended leave because of injuries suffered on the job. Abolt managed to put 82 of them back to work before he was forced out in the wake of the Hired Truck scandal.

In spite of the city's continued efforts to put people back to work, the problem remains.