Hawaii-2017-HCR105-Amended

WHEREAS, vocational rehabilitation is a critical aspect of Hawaii's workers' compensation system and vital to the system's overriding objectives of adequately compensating the injured worker and restoring the worker as fully as possible to that level of economic earnings, and as quickly as possible to gainful employment if the worker becomes disabled; and

WHEREAS, vocational rehabilitation has historically been a successful and valued part of the State's commitment to the restoration process, which assists the individual worker, the employer, and the community as a whole; and

WHEREAS, statistical evidence gathered by vocational rehabilitation professionals attests to the continuing success of vocational rehabilitation as a means of returning injured workers to the workforce; and

WHEREAS, statistical evidence demonstrates that in 2015, an average of 59.6 percent of injured workers returned to work through a vocational rehabilitation plan while in 2016, the average rose to 65.4 percent; and

WHEREAS, many responsible individuals and stakeholders in the existing workers' compensation system have voiced legitimate concerns that the program is currently administered in a different manner than in the previous three and a half decades, and that is contrary to the original intent of the system as expressed in section 386-25(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, criticism has been voiced that, in one case, the mutual agreement between the parties to send an injured worker to San Bernardino, California, for heavy equipment training was prudent and economical because no such training was offered in Hawaii and doing so would return the injured worker to gainful employment in an expeditious manner; however, the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit rejected the agreement as well as the supportive decision of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations' hearing officer and chief hearings officer; accordingly, the worker found it necessary to appeal her case to the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board, which then approved a settlement that reinstated the mutually agreed upon training; and

WHEREAS, the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit's recent denials of initial evaluation reports that are not submitted within the normal forty-five day period have led to the arbitrary closures of otherwise viable vocational rehabilitation cases, with the option of further referral to other counselors, even though failures to comply with the forty-five day limit are due to factors beyond the counselors' control, such as the need to secure medical information from physicians about the injured workers' physical or psychological limitations and requests by physicians to conduct functional capacity testing before providing the medical information on physical limitations; and

WHEREAS, such further referral is duplicative and costly and undertaken without rational basis, unnecessarily expensive for employers and insurance carriers, and disruptive to sound relationships that claimants have formed with their original vocational counselors; and

WHEREAS, criticism has also been voiced that the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit is currently administered in a manner that is punitive and retaliatory toward counselors who are advised of the department's authority to revoke their certification or registration under section 12-14-19, Hawaii Administrative Rules; and

WHEREAS, the references to section 12-14-19, Hawaii Administrative Rules, are intimidating, hostile, and contrary to the cooperative relationships that should be fostered within the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit and the professionals that it regulates, and may even represent, in some cases, retaliation against the vocational counselors' exercise of their First Amendment constitutional rights to participate in the legislative and regulatory process by petitioning their government and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for statutory and regulatory changes, as well as their exercise of independent professional judgment as licensed professionals, and their advocacy for appropriate vocational rehabilitation plans on the part of clients they represent; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to submit a report on its efforts to keep its commitment to work with vocational rehabilitation stakeholders and address the issues raised and recommendations made to improve the performance of the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit in its Disability Compensation Division to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report include any findings and recommendations relating to the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit made by the Workers' Compensation Working Group convened pursuant to H.C.R. No. 168, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, Regular Session of 2015; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Report Title:

DLIR; Disability Compensation Division; Vocational Rehabilitation Unit

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	105
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII