Give 'em an inch...

A recent story highlighted how spurious some of the arguments used to "reform" workers' comp were. In fact, the very powers that be got exactly what they wanted and now are complaining they need more!

A temporary staffing company is laying off nearly 500 workers. Interestingly, the story goes on to mention that nearly all of these workers are being rehired by another temp company. Connection anyone????

Well, let's review a second. The main argument presented last year for why businesses needed a workers' comp system reform was to lower the cost of doing business in Illinois. Okay, so we got a reform bill signed by Governor Quinn in late June that many business groups claimed would reduce workers' comp insurance premiums.

Great.

But then came a story indicating one major insurer was actually RAISING rates!

Now comes this.

Granted, temp companies have the poorest trained, least experienced, "worst" employees and they are solely responsible for those employees who get hurt on the job. So if you're in the temp staffing biz, it's not a party and it's not going to be cheap or easy. But, now that the "reform" law passed how is it that these same entities are now complaining that it's still too expensive to do business? Could it be that the "problem" of workers' comp wasn't the problem addressed? Perhaps this means we are in for more fighting and cajoling to get more concessions for businesses.

Either way, haven't Illinois workers given up enough already?

Look at it from all sides and it's a lot more complex than you realize at first glance. No doubt, workers' comp insurance is expensive and there can be no question that the system was rife with things that needed "fixing."

But did the fixes that were passed act as anything more than window dressing or was this just the first of the slippery slope to more "reform" to "help" businesses while "hurting" workers?

I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide. I'm biting my tongue for now.