Oklahoma High Court Invalidates Workers’ Comp Rule

Portions of Oklahoma’s guidelines for workers’ compensation are unconstitutional because they deprive workers of due process and create an employee subclass, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled April 12 (Maxwell v. Sprint PCS, Okla., 2016 OK 41 No. 113898, 4/12/16).

The court ruled 7-2 that a provision of a 2013 worker’s compensation law—the permanent partial disability deferral provision (PPD)—deferring permanent partial disability payments if an injured worker returns to work is unconstitutional.

Central to the litigation were multiple cases filed by injured workers with the state’s Workers Compensation Commission.

The decision states that in one of the cases, ...