Rand: Benefit Increase in SB 863 Partially Offset by Recession

Higher wage earners will likely benefit the most from the permanent disability benefit increases in Senate Bill 863, according to a Rand Corp. working paper posted to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation website. The $120 million Return to Work Supplement Program created by the 2012 reform bill will do "little to impact overall benefit adequacy," but it will increase the "progressivity" of permanent disability compensation by augmenting benefits paid to low-wage earners, the report said. And the recession had a strong negative effect on the ad...