OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has overturned part of the state's guidelines for compensating injured workers.
The state's highest court ruled Tuesday the permanent partial disability deferral provisions of the law are an unconstitutional violation of injured workers' due process rights and struck it down. The court also ruled that other parts of the law are an unconstitutional special law.
The 7-2 decision involved several cases filed with the state's Workers Compensation Commission by workers who were injured on the job. The decision states that in one of the cases, guidelines issued by the American Medical Association to evaluate the extent of permanent impairment to a worker was improperly applied to determine the amount of compensation.
The decision instructs the commission to recalculate compensation due to each of the injured workers.