Polarization to Hypocrisy

That workers' compensation is a political football is well known. The system was produced by political compromise, and continues to be shaped by political dissent. This is the cycle of comp.

Kentucky is our demonstration state for this aphorism this season, with Gov Bevin trashing the Workers’ Compensation Nominating Commission for a panel more to his liking, the unions taking him to court on that move and a couple of other issues, and the judicial system intervening to slow things down, and sort them out.

Yesterday Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a temporary restraining order against the governor's maneuver while his office and his opposition use the very same arguments in support of their positions - that each side wants the commission stacked in their favor to the detriment of the other side.

The seven-member panel sends the governor the names of qualified administrative law judges who, if appointed, determine the validity of workers’ compensation claims and how much money should be awarded to injured workers.

Allegations of persuasive political donations, party affiliations, and favors abound.

Bevin is a Republican. His predecessor, Steve Beshear, is a Democrat.

This type of fighting over workers' compensation is, unfortunately, commonplace. Work injury protection is either favorable or not, on or off, one or zero, yes or no.

Compromise eludes those who shape policy, and this occurs across borders.

This "us versus them" mentality pervades everything in work comp, even digestion of content. We at WorkCompCentral hear variously that we are either too favorable to injured worker positions, or too favorable to the insurance industry.

Of course, we can't be both - so this division simply tells us that we are perfectly positioned, offensive to all, agreeable to all, depending upon the topic, time, and environment.

Maybe it's just human nature to take a well defined side, rather than wallow in the obscurity of the middle ground.

The danger in such polarity is hypocrisy: what's good for me isn't good for you, regardless of logic...

In the meantime people hurt at work, and the employers paying the bills, are relegated to puppets of the power mongers. Apparently their interests don't count.