“Our goal is to improve and increase the benefits that workers are getting from claims,” Frank D. Cabrera, WCC director said.
He said currently, the disability benefits for workers who file claims for work-related injury or illness is 66 2/3 percent of the average weekly wages, or about $140 a week at about $3.05 an hour.
“As soon as the economic recession turns around, we will start making the necessary changes on the average lost wages payable to the employees,” Cabrera said.
Created by Public Law 6-33 on June 27, 1989, the CNMI Workers Compensation Program was designed to provide various benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries, illnesses and death.
The program provides a benefit plan for public and private employees to compensate for any work-related injury or death, protects employees for any loss of wages from work-related injury/illness or death, provides medical and hospital benefits for treatment, including rehabilitation processes, and protects employers from the rising costs of liability by limiting the total liability to $40,000.
Cabrera said with only four staffers — one assigned on Tinian, one on Rota and two on Saipan to take care of about 4,000 government workers and about 19,000 workers from private industries, they have their hands full but they are doing their best to serve everybody.
Cabrera said their responsibilities include writing and sending out about 150 letters each month and monitoring compliance, providing clearances for over 3,800 business licenses in the CNMI, and issue certifications to businesses as this is a requirement to get licenses.
They also impose fines and penalties to businesses that violate WCC regulations. Civil liability penalties include $100 a day and a maximum of $1,500 a year for failure to provide or renew worker’s compensation coverage; $5 per day not to exceed $500 for failure to submit a notice of injury report within 10 days after the employer was informed of the accident, and $5 a day not to exceed $500 for failure to submit Employer’s Supplemental Report when required on the injured employee.
“Honestly, we don’t want to charge penalties but this is something we have to do when necessary,” he said.
Cabrera said they use the fines and penalties they impose to pay for office operations and maintenance.
“Under the law, we are authorized to use the funds for WCC office operations,” he said.
They review about 85 to 92 percent of the yearly claims raised from private insurance companies, and keep an archive of all transactions since the office opened back in 1989.
“We keep all records of claims and other transactions confidential,” Cabrera said.
Over the past three years, Cabrera said they have seen a decrease in the number of claims filed by workers in the different categories, and they hope the figures will keep on going down.
WCC received a total of 317 claims from Saipan, Tinian and Rota in 2009, 313 claims in 2010, and 171 claims from January to March 31 this year.
“We at the WCC office include prayers day and night that no work-related injuries or deaths will happen every day. We are striving for safe work environments in the CNMI,” Cabrera said.
For more information, call WCC at 664-8018/8024 on Saipan, 422-3733 on Tinian, and 532-9485 on Rota.
