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BRADLEY
SCHOFIELD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name
is
Brad Schofield. I
use to be an employee of
Nabisco
Brands. I have
been on worker's comp now
for
approximately 10 years.
I consider myself to
be
a victim, rather than a
recipient. I have had
my
comp cut off for over a
year by the Travelers
Insurance
Company. It
took me a year to be able to
get
for a hearing.
Upon the hearing, I was given
the
money for the year.
They admitted they were
wrong.
No
interest was ever paid.
The insurance companies
are
at the heart of this
whole matter, where people
are
talking about greed and
money, rather than what
people
have to go through
with in their daily
lives.
It comes to a
point that it's ridiculous
about
whether or not you're
going to give us 100%
or
150%, because when it
comes down to being paid,
as
in the case with statute
308b, which is the
two-third's
payed
differential, we are supposed to
be
able to get up to 15
years of this paid by
statute.
It works out
that we get three years by
fact.
This is 20% of
what is written in the law
that
we're entitled to when
you're totally
disabled.
I have a 30%
disability in one leg and a
20%
in the other.
My
company had sent a truck
out on the road that I
written
up repeatedly as
having bad brakes. After
the
accident, all reports of
the truck having the
bad
brakes disappeared.
The truck was gone within
five
days and I'm left with
worker's comp. I
talked
to Commissioner
Arcudi yesterday and I asked
him,
is it true in the state
of Connecticut you
cannot
sue your employer for
negligence. He said
yes.
I asked him if
it's true you cannot sue for
gross
negligence, and he
said yes. You can only
sue
your employer in the
state of Connecticut for
gross,
wanton and willful
negligence, if you can
prove
it's directed
specifically at you.
If
it's directed at the
entire work force at large,
you're
SOL. It comes
down to the fact that nobody
gives
a damn about nothing.
People, when they're
on
worker's comp, it's no
road for riches. All you
do
is get pain and misery
out of it. Travelers
Insurance
Company routinely
cuts people off of
their
money . . .
SEN.
COLAPIETRO: Could you summarize? Your time has
run
out.
BRADLEY
SCHOFIELD: The summary is that the laws have
got
to be changed to protect
the worker. You have
all
the suits that sit
around and they're
complaining
about dollars.
Not one of them has
ever
been in the type of
pain that most of people
in
this audience that I've
seen walk in and out,
limping
cripples - it looks
like a damn war zone!
You
don't do nothing for the
people of Connecticut.
All
you want is the almighty
buck. That's summary.
Thank
you.
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