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A meeting of the Workers’ Compensation Board of Directors was held on
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at the Board's Central Office in Augusta, Maine
(AMHI Complex, Deering Building, Rm. 170). Chair Dionne called the meeting
to order at 10:17 a.m.
PRESENT: Paul Dionne, John Cooney, Rodney Hiltz, Joan Kirkpatrick, Gary Koocher,
James Mingo, and Anthony Monfiletto.
ABSENT: None.
Gary Koocher MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINTUES OF THE SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 MEETING; Joan Kirkpatrick seconded.
Discussion:
Director Monfiletto requested the minutes be amended on page 6 to reflect his
statement on the record in the discussion regarding the Hearing Officer appointment
of Timothy Collier; Director Hiltz requested the same.
Anthony Monfiletto MOVED TO TABLE THE MOTION UNTIL THE NEXT BOARD MEETING; Joan Kirkpatrick seconded. MOTION PASSES 7-0
Conclusion:
The approval of the September 7, 2004 minutes will be held until the October
19th meeting.
1) Personnel & Budget Subcommittees: Chair Dionne noted the Budget Subcommittee report would be taken care of under New Business.
Discussion:
Directors requested that the Personnel Subcommittee start the search for the
Assistant General Counsel position.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed which Board Members would be available on Tuesday
for the Board’s panel and P.Dionne requested that as many Board Members
as possible be in attendance on Tuesday morning.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed since the Board is not a general fund agency,
if this request will have an impact on the WCB’s budget because most
of the discussion at the meeting was about general fund agencies, there will
be a follow-up meeting to be scheduled for all Commissioners to attend and
there will be additional guidance provided.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed the difference between a State UI number and
a Federal employer identification number, and the difficultly being that
the Federal EIN might encompass multiple entities; there may be one FEIN
for a range of two to 100 UI (individual employers), which would mean that
anytime an FEIN came in with multiple UIs, the claims department would need
to perform a manual process to try to identify which individual entity it
was; the Board currently ties all coverage and claims to the unique employer,
and the UI is more specific.
P.Fortier went on to report that during the course of the conversation, all participants presented their business case and there were three to four votes to remove the UI number and everyone else voted to keep it. He went on to say that the original elements that the Board thought were going to be there is what was voted on by the committee and will be the elements in Release 3; the issue is finally settled which works fine for the Board’s needs.
Discussion:
Directors requested a breakdown of the $1500, which would be the airfare, hotel,
and meals for two days.
John Cooney MOVED TO AUTHORIZE PAUL DIONNE FOR THE REQUESTED OUT-OF-STATE
TRAVEL; James Mingo seconded. MOTION PASSES 6-0-1 (Director Dionne abstained).
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed whether all public forums have been cancelled
or whether the cancellation was occurring on an individual basis; that the
Portland meeting had been moved from an evening to a morning meeting; but
the Augusta meeting is still scheduled for late afternoon, with the public
forum in the evening; Directors inquiry whether the Board would be agreeable
to moving the Augusta Regional meeting to the morning.
Gary Koocher MOVED TO CHANGE THE AUGUSTA REGIONAL MEETING TO A MORNING MEETING AT 9:30 A.M.; John Cooney seconded.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed holding the Business Meeting on the 16th of November
at Central Office and inviting the public, rather than going to the Regional
Office in Augusta, which is smaller and the Board may have other meetings
at Central Office on that day; that the meeting should be held at the Regional
Office so the Board Members are at least accessible to the Regional Staff.
Clarification was made that the motion on the table is TO CHANGE THE TIME OF THE AUGUSTA REGIONAL MEETING TO 9:30 A.M. ON THE DAY ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED (11/16/2004), with the Public Forum following.
Cont’d Discussion:
Directors, Staff and Participants discussed whether there would still be time
to hold the consensus-based rulemaking Subcommittee at Augusta Central Office
in the afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
MOTION CARRIES 7-0.
Conclusion:
The Board will meet on November 16, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. at the Augusta Regional
Office, followed by a Public Forum, and the Consensus-Based Rulemaking Subcommittee
will meet at the Augusta Central Office at 1:00 p.m. on the 16th.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff clarified that the Section 312 examination must be completed
and received by the parties; and although it appears to be a short timeframe
to accomplish such, the Employee’s Advocate believes the Sec. 312 doctor
will be able to.
Regarding the case of Charles Connor, the Board voted on a motion to continue at the last meeting. The basis for the motion was that there was a provisional order request pending and the employee had requested 15 days beyond that date to submit their information. The Board granted the motion on the theory that if the underlying petitions are granted in that case, which will still go forward to a formal hearing, the petition for hardship may be moot. The Employer filed a motion to reconsider that vote and it may be that they were under the impression that the Board had granted the extension of time to file the information until after the underlying hearings, but it may not be clear to the employer that the hardship hearing itself will not occur until after those Petitions are finally disposed. J.Rohde’s recommendation regarding the motion to reconsider would be to deny it, but clarify that the hardship hearing will not occur until after the underlying petitions are finally disposed of.
Anthony Monfiletto MOVED TO CONCUR WITH THE GENERAL COUNSEL’S RECOMMENDATION (to deny the motion to reconsider with a clarification that the hardship hearing will not occur until after the underlying petitions are disposed of); James Mingo seconded.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff clarified that the Motion is to deny the Motion to Reconsider,
and explain that the hearing regarding the Petition for Extension of Benefits
will not be scheduled until after the final disposition of the petitions
that are currently pending before the Hearing Officer.
MOTION CARRIES 7-0.
Discussion:
Directors, Staff, and Participants discussed whether the Board has a way to
determine the relationship the employer has with their insurance carrier;
that if the insurer and the employer come to an agreement for the insurer
to submit First Reports of Injury, the Board has no signed documentation
representing that agreement, so when a penalty letter is sent, it should
be sent to the employer; the Board currently sends penalty letters to both
the employer and insurer because the Board knows who the carrier is; in determining
the penalty the parties may inform the Abuse Unit or the AIU investigates
to determine which entity is responsible for the penalty; a scenario where
the employer had an agreement with the insurer to submit the First Report,
but the employer was consistently giving late notice to the insurer, the
insurer got tired of paying the penalty and told the employer to clean up
their act or pay the penalties; those transactions have nothing to do with
the Board as far as the law goes, it does not matter to the Board which entity
pays the fine as long as it is paid; if the parties disagree which entity
is responsible, currently the AIU does make the call and determines which
one is responsible; the Board should not be involved in determining that
the insurer has to pay a $100 fine, the law is not written that way, the
Board cannot change the law, and the Abuse Unit should not be making that
determination, if the filing is late, it is late, and according to the statute
the employer is supposed to file and therefore would be the one not timely
filing, the issue should be worked out between the two entities as to which
will be paying the fine; Directors’ confusion regarding the fining
of the insurer rather than the employer; the definition of the word employer
in the Act means employer or insurer depending on the context, and the Abuse
Unit has been fining insurers in situations where the AIU has determined,
or the insurer has admitted, responsibility; the Abuse Unit should be able
to determine which insurer has had the practice of filing First Reports for
their employers based on past practice; and whether an insurer’s argument
that it is not their responsibility to file the First Reports could be used
within the context of a particular penalty, thus far the Abuse Unit has not
encountered such an assertion; if an insurer does not want to file electronically,
they are not granted a waiver, and do not file First Reports of Injury even
if the employers are calling them every day making reports, which entity
would be fined then, in that situation the AIU would assess a penalty against
the insurer; the Board considers the employer/insurer as one entity regardless
of the agreement between the employer and insurer; clarification that the
definition of “employer” in the statute is “if the employer
is insured, ‘employer’ includes the insurer, self-insurer or
group self-insurer unless the contrary intent is apparent from the context
or is inconsistent with the purposes of this Act,” so the insurer is
liable unless the insurer can prove it wasn’t their fault; the Abuse
Unit is acting in a manner consistent with the statute; the discussion clarifying
that the authority is there for the AIU to make the determination of responsibility
and the community agrees with how the Abuse Unit has been applying the penalties,
an insurer cannot file reports without receiving notice, and if the employer
reports the injury to the insurer and the insurer fails to file the First
Report timely and acknowledges its failure to do so, the insurer would be
responsible for the assessed penalty.
P.Fortier noted that he had prepared a draft request for waiver questions that the Directors had requested be developed; that it would be up to the insurer, self-insurer, or claims administrator to file the request for waiver; thus far no employers that are not self-insured are filing paper reports, so whoever is currently filing would fill out the waiver request and then Staff would make a recommendation to the Board which would then grant or deny the request for a waiver.
Cont’d discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed the difference between IAIABC Release 3 and the
State’s Proprietary system, whether entities outside of the State can
use the Proprietary system, filing entities may use either, some insurance
companies, for example, Liberty, will probably want to use the IAIABC system
because the same format can be sent to Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York,
etc., and they would only have to program their system one way; whereas with
the Proprietary method they would have to program it the way the Board has
it set up and then program or set up differently for other States, the Proprietary
system may include the same elements as other States or the IAIABC, but they
may be in a different structure; the Board’s Proprietary system does
not match character for character with IAIABC’s which has a lot more
elements because we are just concerned about the information on the First
Report form; whereas there are probably twice as many elements in the IAIABC’s
format because other States have other elements that they capture that Maine
does not; each filing entity will choose which system works best for them;
if an insurer is only doing business in the State of Maine, it is most likely
they will choose to use the Proprietary system which is less cumbersome;
questions related to the need for bringing each waiver request to the Board’s
attention and whether the Board would actually have to become involved in
each request; the Board would have to consider each request, they may not
delegate the responsibility, and then vote whether to grant the extension
or not and for how long an extension would be granted, an order would be
issued noting that the decision was final agency action; whether a grace
period would be appropriate so that the Board would not have to deal with
numerous requests; the rule was promulgated over six months ago and entities
have already had a six month notice; trying to approximate the volume of
waiver requests that might be received, which Staff anticipates that since
our largest provider is already electronic, and at least 50% of filings are
electronic, which leaves approximately 30% which will be utilizing the IAIABC
system, most of the larger players are already using it; the outside carriers
which will utilize IAIABC are most likely the entities which the Board will
receive waivers from, and of those Staff estimates approximately 30 requests
for waivers will be filed; Staff will receive, process, and review for legitimate
concerns, the waivers and bring them to the Board with a recommendation that
could be voted upon; previous grace periods have related to situations where
there was a change of culture, a change in how the Board was doing things
and there needed to be a community notification process, the best way to
get the word out that there was an infraction of whatever the Board was penalizing,
late filed First Reports or Proof of Coverage, was to say that as of this
date if this happens in the future, this will be a fine, which gave the Board
a chance to notify the entity that there was to be a change in culture; however,
with EDI some of these players have been notified for well over three years
that this change was coming and they had been requested to start implementing
the changes necessary, some entities have not done it responding that they
would do it when it became a priority; the Board built-in the ability to
have a grace period if one were requested and approved depending on the circumstances
of that particular entity; there was a mass mailing in June notifying the
community of the rule, the deadlines, and what was required to be in place,
so there has already been a six month “grace period; most entities
have know about it for years, it’s not a new concept; when the Board
was promulgating the rule, the lobbyists familiar with the concept of EDI
were asking P.Fortier last year when it would be implemented; that giving
a blanket grace period would defeat the Board’s purpose; Directors’ notation
that requests for waivers would need to be received by the Board before the
21st of December since that is the last Board meeting of the year before
the January 1st deadline; Staff will send out another mailing around the
beginning of October notifying the community of the rule, the deadline, and
the Board’s website’s link so that if they felt they would be
unable to comply for any reason, the waiver form and process may be completed,
and if these requirements are not met, there will be a $100 penalty per First
Report received non-electronically; questions regarding the current rate
of 50% or better of receiving First Reports electronically, and are all First
Reports received 100% correct, are some accepted with minor errors that will
not be accepted after the 1st of the year, would filings get rejected for
mistakes and then be considered late and be fined, or are those types of
situations handled differently now than they will be with commencement of
EDI; the same process utilized now will be the process utilized after implementation;
the process in the State of Maine is different than a lot of other States
because other States have more mandatory elements, Maine has made a decision
to have very few mandatory elements, but more expected elements; what would
happen if expected elements are missing is that the report would be shipped
back with a notation that there was an error, but it was still an accepted
filing, because the Board’s primary concern is getting the First Report
in and commencing the process, so there are very few requirements, filing
entities will receive error reports, but Staff does not plan to process these
any differently after the first of the year than they have been doing for
the past seven years; so if the basic mandatory information is there, if
a legitimate attempt to file the First Report was made, it will not be rejected,
the filing entity will just receive a notice that informs them of the problems/errors
and asks for correction.
Directors thanked Mr. Fortier for his input and clarification.
Gary Koocher MOVED TO ACCEPT THE PROPOSED WAIVER REQUEST FORM; John Cooney seconded. MOTION CARRIES 7-0.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed that the Budget Subcommittee will be doing the
additional interviews, and it was requested that the Personnel Officer notify
the two candidates who have already been interviewed that the search has
been expanded so that they will be aware of their status in the process.
Conclusion:
Directors agreed that the expanded interviews will be scheduled and the two
candidates already interviewed will be notified.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed the panel composition regarding the Board’s
new structure or whether that was now Tuesday’s panel; Chair Dionne noted
that he would clarify that information with Bud Bernstein of Law Publishers
and inform the Board Members; P.Dionne also noted that in the pamphlet received
from Law Publishers, the participants of each panel were not listed, but he
was sure Bud had a worksheet which he could obtain a copy of and notify the
Board Members.
Discussion:
Directors and Staff discussed the performance evaluation format and whether
the element of Law Court reversals will be included and the Executive Director’s
thoughts regarding that; P.Dionne’s preference was to do the performance
evaluations based on the SOPs established by the Board, and that when the
Personnel Subcommittee meets on the 19th of October, the Law Court information
could be made available; and when the performance evaluations are sent to
the Board Members, the Law Court information could be included; Board Members
requested that this information be disseminated to all Board Members, not
just the Subcommittee members; the four hearing officers up for reappointment
are G.Goodnough, S.Jerome, G.Greene, and T.Pelletier; R.Hiltz’ request
to use the criteria in place at the time of the evaluation for review, and
if the Board would like to change the performance criteria, then it would
be appropriate to make a motion to do so, that he, as part of the Personnel
Subcommittee, does not want to take in for consideration information outside
of the established criteria, so his expectation would be only receiving information
that is within the current performance criteria; discussion regarding the
relevance of cases overturned by the Law Court because the Law Court is free
to pick and choose the cases which they accept, there are a lot of issues
referred that the Law Court never takes under consideration, and whether
those numbers really reflect on a hearing officer’s performance; whether
a particular criteria should be included should come within the discussion
of a presently pending motion (which there is not currently on the table)
relative to changes in the criteria, otherwise, the discussion is out of
order; one distinction is if any of the Board Members request specific information,
he or she is entitled to receipt of the requested information, whether the
information is used in determining an individual’s performance would
be another issue; the Board Members currently receive Law Court information
regularly as decisions reach the Law Court, the request for a summary of
all the hearing officers at the end of every year regardless of personnel
issues, that it might be interesting information to receive, and the Board
is entitled to have access to such information; the timing is such that it
may be appropriate to consider including Law Court statistics, not necessarily
to use in evaluating the current people up for reappointment, but to have
an initial discussion about it and to have discussions regarding the peer
review component of hearing officer evaluations in the near future; the appropriate
forum would be to make a motion and then engage in the process of the discussion;
a request that the Subcommittee work on these topics and at a meeting in
the near future the evaluation criteria be further discussed as an agenda
item; clarification that the concern is the new criteria not be applied to
the current performance evaluations underway, and for future evaluations
engage in a debate of the criteria and make a determination then.
Gary Koocher MOVED TO ADJOURN TODAY’S MEETING; John Cooney seconded. MOTION CARRIES 7-0.
The meeting formally adjourned at 11:10 a.m.
Return to 2004
Board Minutes