Police officers in Texas would have access to a liaison to help them navigate the workers compensation process under a bill introduced in the Texas Legislature.
Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, on Thursday filed House Bill 1688, which would designate a law enforcement liaison within the Texas Department of Workers’ Compensation. The liaison would be a sworn officer designated to “assist an injured law enforcement officer and, if applicable, the ombudsman assigned to the law enforcement officer’s case, during a workers’ compensation administrative dispute resolution process.”
“Texas law enforcement personnel put their lives on the line every single day and unfortunately, many of them are injured — some quite severely — while in performance of their duties,” Rep. Burrows said in a statement posted on his website. “Consequently, these officers are often left to their own devices to seek benefits, care and dispute resolution in the complex and slow moving process of workers compensation claims. A full time, professionally trained ombudsman would aggressively and actively represent the interests of injured law enforcement officers during workers compensation administrative dispute resolution cases.”
Rep. Burrows also introduced a second bill, House Bill 1689, which would make agencies that self-insure, individually or collectively, and the State Office of Risk Management liable for sanctions, administrative penalties and other remedies authorized under the state’s labor code.
A bill that would provide a workers compensation benefits for cancer and other illnesses suffered by workers at a decommissioned nuclear site in Washington state could spur other states with antiquated and toxic nuclear sites to consider similar legislation, according to experts.