A 27 News Special Report: Worker's Comp at Schools

Wed 05/11/2005 -

27 News has uncovered an extraordinary amount of days missed by employees of the Madison School District because of worker's comp claims. These claims are far in excess of those filed by other similar sized Wisconsin school districts. And worker's comp claims in Madison are, in some cases, 14 times those of other districts. When added together, last year alone, Madison School District employees lost more than three and and a half years of work, because of on the job injuries.

When you think of school, you think of teachers, administrative staff, custodians, coaches -- you don't think of worker's comp. Here in Madison, you might want to start. 27 News has learned worker's comp claims by Madison School employees are costing taxpayers millions -- more than $3.3 million over the past the three years; last year - $1.25 million.

"The Madison school district's approach has been to reduce the losses, manage the claims, and then to also get people back to work as quickly as we possibly can," said Roger Price, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services at the Madison School District.

Last year, the Madison School District reported 144 injuries resulting in 1280 days missed. According to OSHA reports, A custodian at East High School lost 109 days because of a strained knee. And a teacher at Sennett Middle School broke an ankle. Instead of returning to work on light duty, that teacher missed 147 days.

Karen Townsend, worker's comp administrator for the Green Bay school district said she was very surprised at Madison's numbers. "We can accommodate anything," Townsend told 27 News. "I've rented wheelchairs for people who have broken their ankle, for example. We get people back to the job." Townsend says there's no reason why Madison can't bring the number of lost days down. Especially when virtually every district in the state is trying to find ways to trim costs.

Madison's Price said the district does a lot to bring employees back to the job. "We've been able to get employees back to work, which reduces the days out."

But the numbers don't bear that out: in our research, we found only one district comparable to Madison. The Racine school district reported 193 injuries last year, and lost just over 1,000 days.

But take a look at other similar sized districts: Green Bay is slightly smaller than Madison, but still fair to compare. Last year, Green Bay reported 219 injuries. But their days lost: 92; about 1,100 less than Madison.

Kenosha reported 428 injuries -- but only 520 days lost; less than half of what Madison School District employee's lost.

Even when presented with these numbers, Madison's Price maintained the Madison School District was in good shape. "When I look at the comparisons, I feel that our numbers look great, compared to some of the other districts that you had brought forward."

But Green Bay's Townsend says Madison can do better. In her 11 years at Green Bay, an aggressive approach in her district has brought injury claims and days lost down. What I just really instill is that these are really valuable people," Townsend said. "Even if they're just stilling in a chair with a presence -- in a classroom or you know, in the custodial area.

In Madison, it's the custodians who file the most claims. Madison custodians accounted for 56% of days lost last year -- they lost 716 days because of injuries. Price says those injuries were severe -- and like every claim, they're looked at on an individual basis. Isn't there more Madison could do to bring down those claims, like Green bay did? "There's always more we can do, and it takes an effort and staff to do that," Price said. "One of our budget cuts is our risk management position this year. Those duties will be consolidated with other individuals." And price says without that front line position, bringing the number of claims and lost days down will be even more difficult. "Budget cuts can actually impact your ability to be more affective."

But let's look for a second at the private sector: assembly lines, paper mills. Companies can go weeks and months without a single day missed because of an on the job injury. Madison's Price wouldn't comment. "You're in areas that I'm not familiar with their environment," Price said. "I'm not going to speculate on what happens in a different environment. I know what we do and what we're trying to accomplish is provide a safe workplace for employees."

Every year, the Madison School District is assigned a rating by the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau. The rating determines how much the district pays for it's worker's comp insurance premiums; the lower the rating, the bigger the discount. Over the past three years, the Madison School District has seen improvements in it's rating: with a 1.26 rating in 2003 to a projected .99 rating this year. The district says that will save them $300,000 in their premium. 27 News found out, though, the rating system, doesn't extensively look at time lost -- it focuses on the number of injuries. And when you look at time lost in a school district, the costs multiply -- because not only are you paying for that employee, but you're also paying a substitute while that hurt employee is out.

Madison is the second largest school district in the state -- the school districts we compared to Madison were the three closest in size. Kenosha has virtually the same number of employees as Madison does. Green Bay is about 18% smaller.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at May 11, 2005 7:17 PM
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