N.D. Workers’ Comp Agency Wants Records on Delinquent Employers

North Dakota’s workers compensation agency wants permission to publish a list of employers who haven’t paid their insurance premiums. Members of the Workforce Safety and Insurance agency’s board have endorsed the idea as one of several proposals the department will introduce for the 2007 Legislature.

The agency covers the cost of treatment and benefits to workers injured on the job. All North Dakota employers must buy the coverage.

Mark Armstrong, a spokesman for the agency, said North Dakota law does not allow it to publish lists of employers who haven’t paid their insurance bills, or disclose how much they owe.

Supporters of the idea said it would allow general building contractors to check on whether subcontractors that they hire have paid their premiums.

“We need to go ahead with this (bill) because people need to have this information,” said Nancy Slotten, one of the employers’ representatives on the board.

The committee also wants to change a state law that reduced benefits to about 100 injured workers when they retired.

One woman, Florence Haux, of Bismarck, told a legislative committee earlier that her benefits were cut when she turned 65 because she tried to return to work after she was injured on the job 15 years ago.

If she had begun getting permanent disability benefits then, her workers compensation check would not have been reduced, she said.

“These are good people who tried to do the right thing” by going back to work after they were injured, said Sandy Blunt, the chief executive officer of Workforce Safety and Insurance.