In a written statement recently published by
News OK, Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Mark Liotta shared that his agency has done its best in pursuit of the “grand bargain;” ensuring that employers are kept safe from debilitating lawsuits while guaranteeing proper medical treatment and adequate recompense for injured workers.
Liotta’s statement was published July 6 on the
News OK website.
The commissioner said that while most work-related injury claims were genuine, Oklahomans were all too familiar with the previous system being fraught with fraud—whether on the part of the claimant, the employer, the insurer, or even the medical provider. With the old system, it seemed that the injured worker only received a portion of the benefits he or she was due.
Liotta then mentioned that landmark reform was enacted by Legislature and signed by Governor Mary Fallin in 2014 that replaced the Workers' Compensation Court with the Workers' Compensation Commission—an agency Fallin asked Liotta to head. This was coupled with a new benefits structure. Oklahoma was the 49
th state to enact such changes, Liotta noted.
Despite ongoing criticism against the amendments, Liotta highlighted the significant effects the reforms have made:
- Following the amendments, worker injury claims have dropped 62% from 2012 (the last year of available court numbers) to 2015 (first full year of the commission). This decrease represents “the reallocation of state resources to the service of injured workers who validly need [the commission’s] help,” Liotta suggested.
- The number of personnel from the workers comp Court to the Commission has dropped 47%, and salaries and other employment costs reduced by 37% in the first three years—figures that would interest taxpayers concerned about having to pay more. Additionally, since switching from a court to a commission, the current number of judges has dropped from 14 to nine and could decrease even more in the future.
Liotta stressed in his statement that the commission is “on a firm foundation with capable staff and sustainable processes,” working to serve workers, employers, and taxpayers instead trying to fulfill a court system. He also underscored that the agency’s focus is “hearing cases with deliberate speed, so workers receive prompt treatment, which leads to better medical outcomes and swifter return to employment.”
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