Although the territory's Workers Compensation program is without funds, a government official indicated Wednesday the Finance Department will assume responsibility for settling some $1.2 million in employee claims currently awaiting disposition.
Labor Commissioner Sonia Jacobs-Dow said Wednesday that Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull had asked her to process the pending claims and send the paperwork to Finance "because they are going to go ahead and cut checks."
Testimony offered by the Labor Department at the recent Finance Committee budget hearings indicated that an unaudited report from the custodian of the Insurance Fund, Turnbull, revealed the Government Insurance Fund was $154,000 in the red. The finance report also said the government owes some $6.5 million in Workers Comp deposits due from as long ago as 1983. There are about $1.2 million in outstanding claims.
Sen. Lorraine Berry, who chairs the Legislature's Finance Committee, has called a special meeting Monday to look into the matter.
Sen. Judy Gomez attacked the reported fund deficiencies and abuses Wednesday.
Terming it "inexcusable" that the government owes the fund so much money, Gomez called on the Turnbull administration to pay what is owed and to move at once to collect "the over $800,000 owed by employers within the private sector."
Saying she has received "numerous" reports of employees claiming and receiving benefits fraudulently, Gomez also said this "should not be tolerated."
She noted that the audit also found that some people are being paid out of the fund although they are neither assigned to, nor working for, the three agencies whose administrative costs are covered by it. The agencies are the Workers Compensation program, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program and the Finance Department's Government Insurance Section.
Beyond the fiscal issue, Gomez said, "the large number of claims filed by government employees each year" for job-related injuries show that the government "must and can do more to make the workplace a safer haven."