WCD Proposes Stiffer Penalties; Voc Experts Seek Changes to Training Standards

The Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division is proposing legislation to increase the cap on penalties for failing to pay administrative assessments, and vocational experts are proposing to relax the criteria used to determine whether an injured worker is eligible for retraining. A draft bill posted to the website for the division’s Management-Labor Advisory Committee set a cap of $40,000 on aggregate annual penalties assessed to employers or carriers that intentionally induce workers not to report injuries or file workers’ compensation claims. Penalties are currently capped at...