Reforming Workers’ Comp

The editorial makes several good points, but then falls down when it calls vocational rehabilitation and permanent disability benefits “overlapping.”

If a construction worker loses three fingers, but is retrained through vocational rehabilitation into another occupation, he should also receive compensation for the injury. The Times believes he is fully compensated if retrained. The workers’ compensation system does not compensate for pain and suffering. It does, however, provide a permanent disability award based on a disability rating from 1% to 100%. The man who loses three fingers deserves both the compensation and vocational rehabilitation.

To call the benefits duplicative is irresponsible.

SCOTT D. OPPENHEIM

Encino