Tennessee is moving to replace its court-based workerscompensation dispute-resolution system with an administrativeprocess used by all but three states.

Workers, union officials and plaintiffs' lawyers all oppose thechanges but each acknowledges that passage of a measure is just amatter of time. The governor is strongly promoting it.

Lawmakers in Alabama and Oklahoma, the other two states withcourt-based systems, are also moving toward adopting anadministrative-based system.

The Tennessee Senate on April 1 passed legislation (SB 200) thatwould establish a new Court of Workers Compensation Claims, and theHouse Finance Committee passed a companion bill (HB 194) on April2.

Passage of the bills has mostly been along party lines,according to Rocky McElhaney, a plaintiff's lawyer from Nashvillewho opposes the changes.

The changes in the system are meant to reduce costs tobusinesses operating in the states, according to trade associationsthe Property Casualty Insurers Association of American (PCI) andthe American Insurance Association (AIA).

The AIA says it is pleased the bills are moving through statelawmakers.

“We applaud Gov. Bill Haslam, R, and his administration forleading the legislative initiative to reform Tennessee's workers'compensation system,” says Ron Jackson, AIA vice president, stateaffairs.

AIA says replacing the current court-based system with anadministrative-based system is the right approach, as it willimprove the efficiency in Tennessee's workers' compensation systemfor both employers and employees, Jackson adds.

The measures' opponents are concerned the proposed legislationwould have the new dispute resolution system housed within theDivision of Workers Compensation, an agency within the Departmentof Labor and Workforce Development.

Unions and worker groups are concerned injured employee caseswould no longer be heard in court, but by special judges selectedby the person the governor picks to run the DWC.

At hearing on the bills, labor groups have expressed concernabout the bills' fast-track with no proper representation and inputfrom people who stand to lose benefits.

About 50 people gathered at the state Capitol last week toprotest the legislation. There were chants of “We want justice” andsigns bearing slogans like: “Don't Gut Workers' Comp.”

Haslam called the current system “antiquated,” and says theproposed legislation would create a more competitive businessenvironment, and would allow workers' claims to be handledquicker.

Elhaney says that under the governor's plan, claims “will beremoved from the independence of the court system and oversight ofthe legislature and placed under a newly-created workers' compgovernment bureaucracy where Haslam will hand-select the State's'work comp czar', who will make the rules, determine what injuriesare covered, hand-select the judges, review all decisions,determine what medical care workers get and hire all the so-calledneutral employee to assist the workers.”

McElhaney adds, “If that is not enough power brokering, Haslamwill also appoint the three appeals judges.”

The bill will “not make it faster and easier to get benefitswhen out-of-state insurance companies wrongfully deny benefits toworkers who rightfully deserve them,” McElhaney says. Instead, headds, the legislation will make it easier to deny benefits andharder to fight a wrongful denial.