September 27, 2012
The city of Appleton, Wisconsin, decided recently to reverse changes that were made to the city’s workers’ compensation policy. According to the Post Crescent, the reversal was made to create a more equal policy for all city government employees.
This past fall, changes were made to Wisconsin workers’ compensation laws and the city of Appleton chose to follow suit by amending their policy to be more in line with those of the private sector. One of the main differences was benefits would not be paid on the first day of missed work. Instead, employees were required to wait through a four-day grace period before they were allowed to collect benefits at a non-taxed rate of 66 percent of an employee’s monthly salary. The rule did not apply to employees who participate in collective bargaining though, including police in fire officials not in a managerial role.
Ald. Curt Konetzke pointed out under the new rules, a police supervisor and an officer could be hurt at the same crime scene, yet only one would be allowed to immediately collect benefits.
In lieu of Konetzke’s remarks, city officials decided to overturn the policy and allow all workers to collect benefits the first day after an injury is reported.
A Green Bay injury lawyer with Sigman, Janssen, Sewall, Pitz & Burkham would like to applaud the city for implementing policy changes that benefit the welfare of those who work so hard.