ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
THE SENATE should pass, and Gov. George Allen should sign, House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell's bill to ensure that Virginia workers who develop job-related carpal tunnel syndrome can claim workers' compensation.
Allen vetoed a similar bill last year, saying it could add to employers' costs. Maybe - but not nearly as much as the potential in legal costs and court settlements if workers with the syndrome start suing employers for damaging their health.
Cranwell, a Vinton lawyer, won just such a settlement in 1994, for $200,000, representing a former railroad worker with carpal tunnel syndrome. Labor organizations predict that million-dollar lawsuits against companies will be filed right and left if Cranwell's bill fails. (In contrast, the average cost of workers' compensation for a victim of the ailment is $15,000.)
Carpal tunnel syndrome, barely heard of 20 years ago, has become the work-place ailment du jour, the result of increased use of computer keyboards and other equipment that require repetitive motion of the wrists and arms. It can be painful, even disabling, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled this month that injured workers can't get help with medical bills or lost wages under the workers' compensation system, even if doctors certify that injuries are work-related.
Cranwell's bill reverses that - and for good reasons.
For one, while Virginia should be open for business, it shouldn't be open to businesses' willful neglect of workers' safety. Computer keyboards can be adjusted, work stations can be ergonomically retrofitted, manufacturing processes can be modified, and employees can be encouraged to take frequent short breaks from repetitive-motion work to help prevent carpal tunnel or to alleviate its pain. Many companies will be less inclined to take these steps without this legislation.
Moreover, it's foolish to push otherwise productive workers to quit their jobs, even force them onto the welfare rolls, by denying medical help for carpal tunnel syndrome. Cranwell aptly describes the absurdity: ``If an employee has a blow-up type of injury, we compensate. But if we wear an employee out, we don't.''
Pass the bill for Virginia's working people. Its defeat would add insult to injury.
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB