Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991                   TAG: 9104150284
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORKERS KEPT WAITING TO COLLECT COMPENSATION

Under the workmen's compensation rules, the law dictates the company's insurance firm must send an injured employee a weekly check equal to two-thirds the average weekly salary, up to a maximum of $404.

The state commission acts as an arbiter when disputes arise over the cause of an injury or the benefit due the employee.

Thousands of Virginians must wait weeks or months for the state to act on their claims for workmen's compensation.

Almost 62,000 people filed for compensation in 1990, said Lawrence Tarr, chief deputy of the commission. That figure shows an 8.6 percent increase from 1989, and a 26 percent increase over the past five years.

The red-tape delays are the source of major strain on Charles Woodworth and his family.

Woodworth, 47, of Cradock, injured his hand in October while working at Sea Trans Inc. in Norfolk, and is still waiting for the state to act on his claim. He cannot work because of his injured hand.

He and his wife, Karen, who works at a $4.05-an-hour stock clerk job, have had to sell their possessions, seek food stamps and take donations from friends to help pay the bills and rent.

Virginia tries to process cases that require a hearing - about 10 percent of those filed - within six weeks of filing, Tarr said. But even if it's processed quickly, a case might stall for months before it reaches a hearing at one of five sites in the state.

Delays are greater for workers like Woodworth, who work for uninsured companies and must seek help through the state's uninsured employers fund, which paid $1.13 million in benefits from the fund last year, and is expected to pay $1.6 million this year, Tarr said.

Tired of waiting, Woodworth wrote a letter demanding the commission and his own attorney "get off their fat duffs" and schedule his hearing.

Claims are delayed, officials said, when the employee's company or its insurance carrier disputes the extent of an injury or whether it's work-related.

Tarr said the commission is working to reduce delays by having its 132 employees call injured workers to gather information, instead of mailing bureaucratic letters. The commission has also set up a unit that handles cases that don't require a hearing.