According to a report released yesterday by the state auditor, Missouri is experiencing what can only be described as persistent and widespread disregard by employers and insurance agencies for state workers? compensation regulations requiring the speedy reporting of worker injuries. The report shows that insurers and employers who self report injuries failed to meet filing deadlines for ninety-three percent of the 459,673 worker injuries recorded from July 1997 to June 2001---a crime which can delay benefits for injured workers and carries a penalty of $50 to $500 and as much as a year?s imprisonment. Although the auditor recommended that the State Legislature end the Workers' Compensation?s Division?s reliance on the attorney general's office for enforcement of the law, the fact that the Division has not referred any violations to the attorney general?s office hints at a larger problem.
See "Senate State audit says workers' compensation claims are filed too late by companies", The Associated Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 26, 2002