Mississippi House, Senate pass workers compensation reform bill

JACKSON, Miss.—Mississippi’s House and Senate passed a workers compensation bill Monday that would require employees to prove that their injuries were work-related, among other reforms.

S.B. 2576 requires workers comp claimants to give their employers medical evidence of the "direct causal connection" between their jobs and their injuries or occupational diseases. It also allows employers to order drug and alcohol testing for injured workers who are under "reasonable suspicion" of abusing such substances at the time of their accident.

A separate clause would remove a presumption that automatically allows on-the-job deaths to be deemed work-related.

The measure has been sent to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. If signed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.