A coalition of labor unions has launched a lawsuit over Missouri’s workers’ compensation law passed this year by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Matt Blunt. More than 70 labor organizations claim the workers’ compensation law is a bad law which violates the U.S. and State Constitutions. Louie Wright, President of a Kansas City local of the International Association of Fire Fighters, says the law denies workers due process under the State Constitution and violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by diminishing workers’ rights to the 1926 no-fault Workers Compensation Act remedy that replaced their right to sue employers. The plaintiffs claim the law shifts the costs of workplace injuries to the employees. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which supports the workers’ comp law, maintains the legislation fixed much of what was broken with the system. Chamber President Dan Mehan claims the suit is ridiculous, and based only on the fact the unions didn’t like the bill. Mike Grote, the Chamber’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs, says this is a case of sour grapes in which the unions are disappointed with a legislative outcome.
