Last week,  the Senate Labor Committee approved bill S-785 that provided an increase in the annual cost of living for individuals who are on workers' compensation for a permanent injury that has disabled them after December 31st, 1979. The current legislation only allowed cost of living adjustments for individuals who had been permanently injured before 1980.

Proponents of the bill state that it is a matter of fairness and that is unfair that those injured before 1980 had these payment adjustments, but those after did not. 

The final bill has yet to be approved, but if it does get approval,   changes will be slow.  The bill would not actually go into effect until  July 1st, 2011.

If you or someone you know has been injured on the job and is in need of workers' compensation benefits, contact the Charleston workers' compensation attorneys of The Steinberg Law Firm at 843-720-2800.