When an employee files a claim for worker’s compensation, the employer or insurer is responsible for communicating the status of the claim to the employee by means of a series of benefit notices. The benefit notice program is intended to be a key communication tool between the claims administrator and the injured worker, keeping the worker informed about important changes in the status of his or her workers' compensation claim.

The workers' compensation community has long criticized the benefit notice system as confusing and ineffective. Through its various studies and analyses, the Commission has confirmed that:

The Benefit Notice system is complex, cumbersome, and not currently designed to provide meaningful information to injured workers regarding benefit levels or to collect appropriate data to monitor prompt delivery of proper benefits.

Current benefit notices are not readily comprehensible and result in confusion to injured workers and all parties.

The Commission has contracted with the Labor Occupational Health Program to assess the needs and explore methods for improving benefit notices to injured workers. The project team will review and make recommendations on streamlining the Benefit Notice process, clarifying requirements, and ensuring that notices accurately and effectively communicate with injured workers in a format and language that is comprehendible.

To improve the pertinent laws and regulations, the project is also further identifying the statutory and regulatory requirements that cause the greatest problems with notices from the injured worker's perspective, and proposing practical changes in laws and regulations to improve basic information for noninsured and newly injured workers and to improve information in benefit notices for injured workers.

The project is underway.

Recommendations for legislative language specifying information to be provided have been developed, whose primary purpose is to make uniform the Labor Code provisions regarding notices to injured workers. The intent of the recommendations are to improve the information given to employees by employers prior to and soon after injury, information available at state Information and Assistance offices, information from claims administrators, the content and clarity of benefit notices, and the timing of some of the most problematic benefit notices.

& CHSWC Report: ‘Recommendations: Information for Injured Workers’ (2000)