Workers’ comp should not be part of the law department

There, I’ve said it. Plain as day.

Perhaps that is why the blog has been almost barren of references to the function (See my posts of Oct. 27, 2005: whether workers comp claims were in certain benchmark reports; April 23, 2006: metrics on claims that result in litigation; Jan. 25, 2006: whether law departments count workers comp in their reported litigation.)

Although the function can be important and costly, it is rarely part of the law department’s scope of responsibilities (See my posts of May 19, 2006: #4: huge spending by Los Angeles; and April 6, 2007: McDonald’s transformation of its workers’ compensation program.). Some companies even turn to external advisors for this specialized field, one which is mostly administrative and procedural with little need for legal interpretation or dispute resolution (See my post of April 4, 2006 about the specialist company, AHC, Inc. that has resident experts.).