STATE AUDIT SAYS SECOND INJURY FUND GOING BROKE

A report issued by State Auditor Susan Montee on April 25 says the state’s Second Injury Fund is headed for insolvency in 2008 due in part to a 2005 law that capped employer payments into the fund. The state established the fund in 1943 to encourage employers to hire previously injured workers by supplementing workers’ compensation payments to workers who aggravate existing injuries on the job.

Employer fees support the Second Injury Fund. A 2005 law that overhauled the Missouri’s workers’ compensation system capped the fee at 3 percent of an employer’s workers’ compensation insurance premium. The fee previously was based on a formula set by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The audit says the fee needs to be at least 3.5 percent to keep the fund solvent. In the two years before the cap was imposed, the fee was 4 percent.