Work comp injury report confidentiality approved

Certain workers’ compensation first injury report information will be confidential under a bill passed April 10.

Currently, employers or insurers are required to file a first injury report with the Workers’ Compensation Court for any injury resulting in death, lost time, loss of consciousness or medical treatment beyond first aid. Such reports are considered public records and can be accessed through a public records request.

LB455, sponsored by Syracuse Sen. Bob Hallstrom, requires that an employee’s confidential information included in such reports remain confidential for 60 days after filing, except as necessary to administer and enforce other provisions of the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act. An injured employee also may waive confidentiality.

Under the bill, access to the confidential report otherwise is restricted to the involved parties and their legal counsel, insurers and treating physicians, state and federal agencies for investigations or statistical research and nonprofit organizations that provide services to families of deceased employees.

Additionally, the workers’ compensation court is required to send a letter to an injured employee notifying them of their right to seek legal advice or representation once a report is filed.

The measure also includes provisions of Plymouth Sen. Tom Brandt’s LB1077.

Those provisions update how workers’ compensation claims data is reported to the National Council on Compensation Insurance for purposes of calculating the experience modification factors used to set a business’s insurance premium based on its workers’ compensation claim history compared to the industry average.

Nebraska businesses may use a net reporting system rather than a gross reporting system to allow for the exclusion of deductible payments in the determination of their experience modification factor beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

LB455 passed on a 37-12 vote.