Workers comp reform pays dividends for SM City Hall
CITY HALL From October to December of last year, City Hall was ordered to pay nearly $3 million in liability and workers’ compensation claims, according to a report recently released to the City Council.
The findings were the first in a regular series of quarterly reports to the council summarizing claims and settlement information related to lawsuits and workers’ compensation.The next report is expected to be released within the next week or so, according to Tom Phillips, risk manager for City Hall.
Under the “highlights” section of the report, City Hall received 229 new claims during the second quarter of fiscal year 2006-07. That pushed the total of open claims to 400.
Of the 222 claims that were closed in that period, 144 were closed without City Hall having to pay. Only 19 claims (or 8 percent) resulted in litigation.
The majority of the claims were made by those who rode the Big Blue Bus — around 31 percent. Other claims had to do with sewer backups, tree branches falling, police operations and people tripping over sidewalks, said Jeanette Schachtner, chief deputy city attorney for the Civil Liability Division.
“Aside from Farmers’ Market litigation, the number of (lawsuits filed) has remained pretty consistent over the last few years,” Schachtner said.“As far as how much has been paid out, it varies from year to year depending on the cases... there is always a variety.
“We’ll get a one or two employment related cases a year, a few police cases, but the majority are traffic accidents.”
The council just recently approved payments in the amount of $105,000 for a civil rights case and $35,000 resulting from an accident with a city vehicle.
On the flip side, the council approved a settlement in which City Hall received $53,300 in back taxes. From October to December of last year, $99,953 was recovered for damages sustained to city property.
In regards to workers’ compensation claims, the report showed that reforms enacted at the state level are having an impact, helping to keep costs down.
“Three years ago, our workers’ compensation costs were around $6 million,” Phillips said. “Last year, that dropped to around $3.5 million.”
The majority of the claims are generated by five departments with the highest level of risk-based activities or most labor-intensive, the report said, including the police department (29 percent), Big Blue Bus (23 percent) and Environmental and Public Works Management (21 percent).
Through the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 06-07, the total number of claims came in at $2,201,703, which paid for medical and indemnity expenses, including temporary and permanent disability and vocational rehabilitation benefits, according to the report.
To make sure employees are protected, City Hall provides training sessions and safety classes and tracks the number of hours employees participate.
The programs include defensive driving, injury prevention, wellness/fitness, forklift operation and the recently created heat stress program, which is to help those workers who spend much of their day working in the sun and could succumb to heat stroke.
Of those who took the courses, 85 percent rated the programs as “good” or “excellent.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 15, 2007. Read the original PDF.