05/04/2021
April 27, 2021
Governor Gretchen Whitmer
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, MI 48909
RE: Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
Dear Governor;
It is with great sadness that I write this letter about the State of Michigan’s treatment of individuals who have been injured at work. People who have been injured as a result of work-related disabilities are probably among the most vulnerable of our citizens. When they are hurt and unable to work, they do not qualify for unemployment and most do not have other sources of income. Their only remedy is Workers’ Compensation. Unfortunately, Michigan has kept the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation closed since March of 2020 and has shown no willingness to reopen soon.
The State of Michigan has abandoned these people and used the COVID Pandemic as an excuse to do so. I am certainly not trying to minimize the seriousness of COVID-19. However, I do not believe the pandemic justifies the consequences that are being faced by our States injured workers. Justice delayed is often justice denied. I speak with people who are waiting for the courts to open every day and words cannot express the needless pain and suffering that this closure has caused.
I know that all of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation hearing sites have been equipped with PPE protection, including plexiglass barriers; this was accomplished by November of 2020. I know every Workers’ Compensation Magistrate has either received a vaccine or has a vaccine available to them. In spite of these things, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation remains closed to in-person hearings. If individuals can go to a restaurant to eat, can get on a plane, shop in busy shopping malls, go to sporting events, then certainly, individuals should have the ability to try their case before a Workers’ Compensation Magistrate. Workers’ Compensation Cases are tried before and decided by a Magistrate without a jury. I have personally spoken with almost all of the Magistrates and they have indicated, without exception, that they are ready and available to try cases. Given all these facts, it is unconscionable that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is closed to people who desperately need their day in Court.
I am writing this letter imploring you to take action, and I am enclosing a copy of this letter to each and every one of my 346 Workers’ Compensation clients. I am also coping in my legislators, both state and federal, and the director of the agency. Finally, I will also be reaching out to all the attorneys I know who practice in the field of Workers’ Compensation imploring them to send similar letters to their clients.
I am calling on everyone who receives this letter to take action. Call your elected officials: state federal and local. Make sure they get back to you with what steps they are taking to solve this problem. If they do not get back with you go to their office. Remember this when you vote. If you are in a union or know people who are, make sure that their leadership is aware of this crisis affecting our State’s injured workers. Share this letter with friends. It is time to put a spotlight on the crisis.
Yours truly,
Timothy S. Burns
cc: State Senator Debbie Stabenow
State Senator Gary Peters
Congressman Dan Kildee
Michigan State Senator Ken Horn
Michigan State Representative Rodney Wakeman
Michigan State Representative Amos O’Neal
Director of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Jack Nolish
Deputy Director of Labor Sean Egan
All clients of Burns Law
