Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: SB42 is bad legislation

"SORRY. WE CAN'T hire you back as an ironworker. You understand I would like to do it but there's a matter of industrial injury insurance," was the greeting I received when applying for a job with a construction company. Prior to going back into the military service, I had worked for this same outfit on a dam in Southern Idaho and they liked my work. Now after being hospitalized and discharged for physical injuries the company's rules wouldn't allow my rehiring even though my old boss wanted me back.

A couple of days later they offered to hire me as a laborer doing a job twice as dangerous as my ironwork. My ironworker boss had gone to the superintendent and insisted they put me to work. I wasn't about to argue over the new job or lower wages. I needed the work even though the pay scale was lower. During the next few months I tended to a rock crusher and at least two or three times a day almost fell in the contraption when prying loose boulders that were blocking the system.

At the time I was more than happy just to be back on a construction job making good money and working with the strong men who have built this country. There had been times overseas that the thought of returning to construction work seemed less than possible. Few things are more satisfying than sitting in the shade of a truck away from the desert sun and visiting during lunch break. Even more enjoyable might be the cold shower after earning overtime pay for working in the dust and heat 10 or 12 hours. It was a great summer and I had money for college.

I was most fortunate that my prior work record had been good and also had loyal friends still with the company. Not everybody is this fortunate. There will be many more working people even less fortunate if the 1999 Legislature passes Senate Bill 42, which will destroy the Subsequent Injury Fund provisions made into law 26 years ago. It became law to protect employers who are willing to hire people with disabilities.

A brochure explains the SIF as follows:

"The Subsequent Injury Fund is a low-cost program which removes a major barrier to the employment of qualified people with disabilities and disabled veterans. The Subsequent Injury Fund provides a safe haven for employers who desire to hire applicants with known disabilities. Since there are times when a person who has a disability suffers a second injury, and receives a greater rating than the total of the injuries added together, the SIF picks up the difference between the last injury and the total of the two injuries. For instance, say the loss of one eye is 24 percent and an employer hires a person with this disability, and the employee suffers the loss of the other eye -- the total loss would not be the expected 48 percent, but say 85 percent. The SIF would cover the subsequent injury."

We must admit that today there aren't a large number of combat veterans returning to the work force, but because of good medicine larger numbers of people with other injuries, birth defects and diseases are surviving and are wanting to work. What employers have learned is that these people can become their most loyal and competent workers.

Susan Dunt, safety manager for the state workers' compensation fund, in a memo about SB42, writes, "It is unfortunate that the complexity of administering this fund (with the advent of three-way insurance) and disagreements over fair assessments to some employers has initiated this bill, which will eliminate the benefits and incentives offered by this fund to both employers and injured employees (if passed)."

Continuing the SIF and killing SB42 would show both economic and social wisdom. If a legislator has any doubt about the value of handicapped workers he should attend the next awards dinner put on by the Nevada employers and the Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.

The working people of Nevada have already been pushed into HMOs and watered-down private insurance plans that have shaken their confidence. The passage of SB42 would be one more unnecessary blow to these most valuable contributors to our society.

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