Last Friday, Governor Tony Evers Friday signed Assembly Bill 1073, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 213. The act makes several improvements to Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation system as recommended by the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC).
“This legislation reflects good-faith negotiations between representatives of employers and employees in which both sides made substantial compromises,” said Rachel Ver Velde, WCAC caucus co-chair and associate vice president of government relations at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. “The final product makes well-conceived and incremental changes to the system which has been the hallmark of Wisconsin’s approach to policymaking in the worker’s compensation system.”
2023 Wisconsin Act 213 includes language to:
- Increase the permanent partial disability weekly rate by $8 for injuries occurring in 2024, on and after the effective date from $430 to $438, and by an additional $8 to $446 for injuries occurring on and after Jan. 1, 2025.
- Allow lump sum payments for permanent partial disability for unaccrued compensation to be paid voluntarily in advance in undisputed claims with no 5% interest credit.
- Incorporate gender neutral language relating to marriage in Wis. Stats. 102.51(1)(a).
- Clarify duties between DWD’s Worker’s Compensation (WC) Division and the Department of Administration’s (DOA) Division of Hearings and Appeals (DHA) with respect to closing cases.
- Provide that the statute limitations begins to run on the date an order is issued by DHA that approves a compromise agreement, and that subsequent claims will not be time-barred except by the applicable statute of limitations.
- Correct citations to mirror federal rehabilitation law.
- Increase the amount of large Uninsured Employer Fund (UEF) claims that require reimbursement from worker’s compensation insurance carriers from $1 million to $2 million.