About 7,900 workers will receive the reimbursement for money taken under 1993 and 1995 laws that were later declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
Judge Michael Donnelly, of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, approved the payment process yesterday after the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation decided to drop further appeals. The bureau lost its case against the workers in December 2004.
William Mabe, the bureau’s new administrator, decided that appealing the ruling was not appropriate, given the agency’s attempts to rebuild trust after an investment scandal that rocked the agency.
The decision “comes down to doing the right thing,” Mabe said.
“Without question, we must be responsible and fair as we build a more equitable workers’ compensation system for Ohio’s employers and injured workers,” he said. “Returning these moneys is another step in that direction.”
The bureau had argued that workers should not have been paid twice for the same injury: once by the state, once by insurance companies.
The bureau’s decision to pay is a victory for thousands of workers “who finally after a seven-year-long legal fight will see a return of their funds that had been unlawfully collected,” said lead attorney Craig Bashein.
Paying out the $52 million comes at a difficult time for the workers’ comp agency, still reeling from the scandal that erupted in April 2005 over unorthodox investments in rare coins and other collectibles and included a $215 million hedgefund loss.
Two years ago, the bureau said it didn’t expect to pay anywhere close to the $52 million it now will distribute.
However, the agency says the repayment won’t hurt its finances because it began setting aside money earlier this year.
A fact sheet about the payment obtained by the Associated Press says workers eligible for the reimbursement will receive 70 percent of what the bureau took from them. The other 30 percent — or about $15.6 million — will go to fees for the workers’ attorneys.
Bashein said the money will be shared by a dozen lawyers at five different firms. He said the fees also will help cover the cost of a court-appointed administrator hired to distribute the money.
In 2001, the Ohio Supreme Court declared a portion of the law allowing the bureau to demand the reimbursement unconstitutional.
In 2004, the court again ruled in favor of injured workers suing over the money, saying the claim belonged in a Common Pleas court, not the Columbus-based Ohio Court of Claims.
The case was named for a Cleveland man who received both state benefits and an insurance payment for a workrelated injury.
Angel Santos had received $121,941 in benefits from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and $500,000 more in a settlement with his employer after he lost three fingers on his left hand in 1997 when he accidentally triggered a stamping machine.
Santos sued after the bureau sought to collect the money it paid.