I wish I could say I’m surprised by the lame response by DIR (Division of Industrial Relations) to the Petition I file d in July for DIR to do its job and have an actuary review the discount rate used to convert permanent partial disability awards to present value lump sums. After you read DIR’s response, denying the petition, you will note that the director of DIR fails to mention that the law requires DIR to have an actuary review the present value table every year. No excuse is offered as to why it hasn’t been done since 2000. Instead, he says DIR complied with the law that requires a review of all regulations every ten years.
Don’t worry, injured workers. I’m not going away, and intend to take further action on this until the regulation and table are corrected. Injured workers are entitled to be paid a fair sum for their permanent partial disability awards. DIR should be ashamed of itself for being the puppet of insurers. At some point, Nevada legislators and/or the Governor will have to acknowledge that having the fox guard the henhouse in Nevada workers’ compensation system is wrong.
