Significant Changes in Workers’ Compensation Law Ahead According to Attorney

Rainey Kizer & Goodwill Industries Host Workshop to Examine Changes

Jackson, TN – Significant changes in Tennessee workers’ compensation law will go into effect on July 1, 2014 according to James (J.V.) Thompson, an attorney with Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell PLC.  His remarks came at a Jackson workshop hosted by Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee and Rainey Kizer to help employers begin planning for these changes.  At the event Goodwill executives also outlined their programs to help disabled employees return to the workplace.

 “These are sweeping changes, with many facets of the new law still to be fleshed out,” Thompson explained.  “A new administrative agency and new appointed judges will begin to hear workers’ compensation cases, instead of the local trial courts. New administrative regulations, which have not yet been issued, may control how the new law is interpreted and executed.  There also will be new standards and formulas to determine the availability and amount of workers’ compensation benefits.  An ombudsman program will also be available to assist claimants in obtaining information and protecting their rights.”

“Incentives for both employers and employees to strive for a return to work are included in these changes,” according to Thompson, who cited Goodwill’s expertise in helping disabled workers as being a potential benefit for employers and workers.  Goodwill executives discussed their Transitional Employment Services program, which helps disabled individuals’ re-entry to the workforce with job training, job coaching and placement services.  In West Tennessee, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee operates Career Solutions Centers in Jackson and Union City.

Thompson has been associated with Rainey Kizer since 2003 and practices in the areas of tort and insurance defense, workers’ compensation, and employment law. He currently serves as chairman of the Firm’s Employment Law Practice newsletter.  He graduated from law school at the University of Memphis, where he was a member of the law review.  Thompson also has experience in state legislative matters, having served in the clerk’s office of the Tennessee House of Representatives and in the office of the Tennessee Speaker of the House. He is a barrister in the Howell Edmunds Jackson chapter of the American Inns of Court.

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