Goliath goes down

Back in November the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce sent an Action Alert to our members urging them contact the S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission to express their opposition to an insurance industry proposal unfair to small businesses. The industry wanted to shorten the time companies had to wait to cancel a workers’ comp policy following the premium due date.

The industry tried to argue that businesses should only be given a 10-day cancellation period instead of the present 30 days. Why? To eliminate a contradiction in the law, the industry lamely argued.

Then came a December public hearing on the matter was held and the Workers’ Comp Commissioners were handed more letters from small businesses than I’m sure they’ve ever had on an issue. The opposition was strong both in writing and in my testimony. Timothy Killen, director of the State Workers’ Compensation Uninsured Employers’ Fund, put the nail in the proposal’s coffin correctly pointing out that the Commission’s 30-day cancellation policy was not at all inconsistent with the law.

At its recent monthly meeting, the Workers’ Compensation Commission unanimously rejected the insurance industry’s proposal.

Actions Alerts don’t always result in the outcome we want but this time David beat the mighty Goliath.