Ark. Court to Consider Fairness of Workers’ Comp System

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The Arkansas Supreme Court has agreed to consider an injured man’s argument that the state Workers’ Compensation Commission operates unfairly in violation of the constitution.

Arkansas Chief Justice Jim Hannah said the court would consider the argument raised by attorney Rick Spencer on behalf of Edward Williams of Mountain Home. Williams was injured in a fall from scaffolding while working for Johnson Custom Homes in 2004 in Baxter County. The commission denied Williams’ claim for compensation, and he appealed.

During oral arguments Spencer suggested the commission was structured in such a way that it could violate the due-process clause. He argued the panel can be overly influenced by the governor, who appoints all three commission members. The system is unfair, he said, because the votes of two of the commissioners “almost invariably” support the interests of the person who appointed them. “In effect, you have a one-man commission, and that violates the due-process clause,” Spencer told the court.

To support his argument, he provided affidavits from two former administrative law judges for the commission who said they were fired for not being more business friendly. The affidavits were written in 2005, when Mike Huckabee was governor.

In his affidavit, former administrative law judge Bill Daniels of Monticello said, “The prevailing opinion among judges (at the commission) was that deciding cases in favor of injured workers created a high risk of termination.”

Former administrative law judge Michael White of North Little Rock said he believed he was fired “because I would not be influenced in carrying out my statutory duties and responsibilities … (in order) to help the governor’s quest to make the state of Arkansas business-friendly.”

Huckabee could not be reached by phone and did not immediately respond to an e-mail for comment.

Former commission official Julie Bowman was identified in Daniels’ affidavit as one of the commissioners who fired him. Now state insurance commissioner, Bowman said it has been a while since she read the affidavits but she remembered “they contained some of the most ridiculous lies and allegations I have ever seen or heard.”