HB 2375: Relating to Workers' Compensation
Sponsor: Representative Brad Christ
OPPOSE
Shifts costs onto families and taxpayers.
HB 2375 makes significant changes to Missouri's workers' compensation system, largely tightening what qualifies as a compensable work injury and reducing what an injured worker can ultimately recover. It narrows "accident" and "injury" definitions and requires benefits from other insurance sources to be deducted from workers' comp benefits, shifting costs away from employers and insurers and potentially onto private insurance and taxpayer-funded programs.
What Does This Bill Do?
- Narrowed Eligibility: Requires that work be the "prevailing factor" for an injury or condition to be compensable, explicitly rejecting the logic that work simply being a "triggering factor" is sufficient.
- Benefit Offsets: Reverses the traditional approach by requiring that savings and benefits from other insurance sources (government or private) be deducted from workers' comp payments.
- Procedural Speed-Ups: Creates new mechanisms for employers to seek early dismissal of claims within 180 days, which can pressure unrepresented workers before medical facts are fully established.
Constitutional or Critical Context
This bill represents a major doctrine rollback, including the abrogation of the "extension of premises" doctrine for non-employer property and a sweeping legislative declaration to reject prior case law interpretations. These changes create significant legal instability and prioritize institutional interests over the practical ability of injured citizens to access remedies for workplace harm.
Red Flags & Recommended Amendments
Collateral-Source Offset Shift (§287.270)
Forces the deduction of other insurance or government benefits from workers' comp, which socializes the cost of injuries onto the taxpayer and private family health plans while privatizing the "savings" for insurers.
Weakening of Temporary Awards (§287.510)
Removes the provision allowing unpaid temporary awards to be doubled in a final award, reducing the incentive for employers to pay benefits promptly to keep households afloat during disability.
Act for Missouri Recommendation:
Act for Missouri opposes HB 2375. The bill's dominant effect is to make claims harder to win, reduce net benefits for families through broad offsets, and weaken enforcement mechanisms—shifting the burden of workplace injuries away from the responsible system and onto the backs of Missouri families.