BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) – The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday upheld state law regulating how much money workers injured in the workplace can raise.
The court ruled that an amendment to the Kansas Workers Compensation Act is constitutional as it does not change the requirement that a worker’s impairment “must be established by competent medical evidence.”
The court heard arguments last year about which edition of the American Medical Association’s Guide to Injury Assessment should be used in determining compensation for injured Kansas workers.
Critics argued that the sixth edition of the legislature-passed AMA guide wrongly restricts compensation for injured workers, reducing compensation by as much as 40 to 70 percent. Proponents claimed it better reflected technological advancement by replacing the outdated guidelines.
The court said the reference to the guidelines in the law did not make it unconstitutional as they were merely a guide and only serve as a starting point for a medical opinion.
It overturned a 2018 appeal court ruling that found the updated law unconstitutional.
“Our position was that lawmakers had the power to update the law as it was,” Kansas Attorney General Dereck said in a statement. “Today the Supreme Court approved.”
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