City Of Monroe, Louisiana, Sees More Firefighter Claims
By Lonce LaMon - December 27, 2012
The city of Monroe, Louisiana, with approximately 1,200 employees, has had 242 active workers’ compensation claims, with 25 cases requiring attorney involvement over the past eight months. The city attorney has worked in the city’s legal department for 26 years. She believes the case load might be up slightly over the past two decades.
“Well, there probably are more claims now,” said Monroe attorney Nancy Sommersgill. “I think the difference in claims is just basically because of the litigious nature of society. Attorneys used to not advertise, but now they do. I think more employees know they have rights and can maybe get some money. The types of workers’ compensation cases are numerous, and can include anything from bee stings, tripping on a staircase, carpal tunnel from typing, back injuries, vehicle accidents and even work-related stress.”
But about 25 percent of the current open claims come from Monroe’s Fire Department.
According to Summersgill, Monroe has a high number of workers’ compensation cases within the fire department, in large part because of a provision in state disability law called the Heart and Lung Act. Approximately 90 percent of the firefighters’ workers’ compensation claims are heart and lung related, Green said.
Under the Heart and Lung act, firefighters have a right to recover 66 2/3 percent of their salary if they suffer a heart or lung ailment. She said the burden of rebutting the presumption that the illness was caused by firefighting lies on the employer.
Even if a firefighter retires and later develops a heart or lung illness, he not only gets retirement, but the additional 66 2/3 percent of his salary.
“Over the years, we have discovered Monroe has an unusually high number of cases. I think this occurred because there was more smoking with some of our older firefighters. Despite smoking cigarettes for most of their lives, their lung ailments were presumed to have been caused by firefighting.”
Workers’ compensation claims from firefighters also have been unusually high for the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, according to parish attorney Jay Mitchell. In the period of 2009 to 2011, the total number of employees covered under the OPPJ workers’ compensation program was approximately 735.
Total claims paid during 2009 were $441,712; followed by $613,230 in 2011; and $888,147 in 2011.
“The increase reflected in 2011 appears attributable to the increase in claims paid for the Ouachita Parish Fire Department, which totaled $452,669 in 2011, compared to $132,319 in 2009, and $151,505 in 2010,” Mitchell said.
Since May 1, the city’s third-party administrator, Louisiana Agricultural Corp., has handled the day-to-day processing of workers’ compensation claims. For the first five months of 2012, the city used Courtney Joiner with Hammonds and Sills.
Tommy Green with Louisiana Agricultural Corporation said the 242 claims is the number of open claims the third-party administrator took over on May 1, plus new accidents that have occurred.
Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said like most municipalities Monroe’s size, the city’s legal department is busy with various duties that cover all aspects of city government.
“Workers’ compensation requires a considerable amount of attention from our legal department, so having someone available to focus specifically on that area is significant for the city,” Mayo said.
He said city officials have never compared its workers’ compensation numbers to other municipalities, but he doesn’t believe the city has an unusually high number of cases.
“Our cases are based on the duties our employees perform, including public works, fire and police, which all have a higher exposure for accidents and workers’ compensation claims,” Mayo said.
At one time, Monroe had three attorneys in its legal department who handled workers’ compensation cases as well as all other claims.
“We have a setting where lots of on the job injuries can occur, and it really requires someone full time to handle workers’ compensation.”
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