Labor department seeks to swallow Commission The state labor department plans to push for legislation that would bring the workers’ compensation commission under its wing, netting the department $1.25 million per year and hardly causing a ripple for consumers, the labor department says. Specifically, the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation aims to split the commission into an administrative arm and a judicial arm. The administrative arm would report to the LLR director but the seven commissioners would not, thus retaining their much-prized independence. “We certainly don’t want to run workers’ compensation,” says LLR director Catherine Templeton, who characterizes the proposal as a mere accounting move which would enable the state to draw down critically needed federal funds for its occupational safety and health program. “You don’t change anything else. Whatever happens now would happen the next day,” she says. She said she has run the proposal by the governor’s office, a few legislators, outside attorneys, and the Legislative Audit Council. “Nobody sees a downside,” she added, noting that in 25 states the workers’ compensation agency works under the umbrella of the state labor or insurance department. (The commission has different figures, but agrees with the larger point – workers’ compensation is administered by an independent agency or board in only 25 states.) Ms. Templeton says for South Carolina to use state appropriations to attract federal matching funds the workers’ compensation commission and LLR must be part of the same agency. Read more...

SC eyes wider mediation Commissioners should have the authority to order mediation in any workers’ compensation case they deem appropriate, says Commissioner Derrick Williams, who is working with attorneys from both sides to prepare regulations to that effect. Mediation, for the most part, would be non-binding and non-mandatory, and both parties from the outset would have the right to consent or opt out of mediation, he told the audience at a recent meeting of the South Carolina Self-Insurers Association. Regulations would set guidelines for mediation, which is widely used by courts at almost every level. “As a general rule, we will make the parties split the cost,” he said, adding if the parties can’t agree on a mediator the commission would appoint one from a list of certified mediators knowledgeable about workers’ comp. Commissioner Williams said mediation may be made mandatory in complex cases, such as those involving catastrophic trauma, multiple employers, third-party lien cases, and contested death and mental-mental cases. He said the commission would track mediations to see how well they are working to settle cases. He added he expects to have draft legislation worked out early in the year, and commission-ordered mediations may become common in the fiscal year starting July 1, 2012.