Oklahoma
Workers’ comp snafu
Oklahoma owner-operators left
without proof of insurance exemption
By Coral Beach
Staff Editor
If they’re not already there, owner-operators in Oklahoma will soon be in limbo – the date of their arrival in the great gray area is the same as the expiration date on their work comp CNC cards.
For those not base-plated in the Sooner State, a work comp CNC refers to a state-issued Certificate of Non-Coverage card that owner-operators and other self-employed people in Oklahoma could obtain for $10 a year, or $20 for two years. Oklahoma officials have told Land Line that they believe the certificate program was unique to their state. It was repealed effective July 1 and no backup plan was put in place.
The certificates served as proof for self-employed people who needed to provide documentation to general contractors that they were exempt from laws requiring employees to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Owner-operators and other self-employed people are not considered employees and are therefore exempt. There are about 20,000 Oklahomans, including many of the nearly 2,900 OOIDA members in the state, who are affected by the CNC change.
Before July 1, when the issuance of the certificates was to cease, Oklahoma officials began a mad scramble to answer a flood of inquiries from self-employed people who wanted to know what would replace the certificates. Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau estimated her staff handled more than 3,000 direct inquiries in three to four weeks.
At first, some key players, including state Sen. Cliff A. Aldridge, R-Choctaw, said the only foolproof action would be for an owner-operator to purchase a workers’ comp policy and then check the “opt-out” box on the policy. He said that was not a satisfactory answer.
“The minimum premium on those policies is $350,” said Aldridge, who himself is an agent for Farmers Insurance. “So what it’s really done is raise their cost from $10 a year basically up to $350 a year.”
That interpretation gained support from some state officials who speculated off the record. They openly admitted the situation was at best unclear and at worst completely uncharted territory.
So legislators, including Aldridge, along with Reneau and officials in the Oklahoma Insurance Commission’s office, asked the Oklahoma Attorney General to issue an opinion.
Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmondson responded in a June 29 opinion that stated existing certificates would remain valid through the expiration dates printed on them.
Upon hearing that news, self-employed Oklahomans flocked to Department of Labor offices on June 30 so that they could get certificates for the next year or two. The department kept the office open until 8 p.m. so everyone in line was processed before the midnight deadline.
Applicants had to provide the Labor Department documents, such as their 1099 tax forms, as proof that they were exempt from work comp law, which put the burden of proof on the department.
Without the certificate program, independent contractors wonder if the firms they work with will demand that they participate in work comp programs.
Key players including legislators and officials from the departments of labor and insurance are working with representatives from the insurance industry and have drafted a new affidavit program to at least temporarily address the issue.
“The affidavit will be equivalent to the CNC,” said Diana Hartley, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Insurance Commission.
Only problem is, Hartley said, there is no statutory or legislative authorization for the affidavits, which would be available from any insurance agent who is licensed to sell work comp coverage in Oklahoma.
Pat McGuigan, deputy commissioner at the Labor Department, confirmed Hartley’s assessment.
“There is no statutory authority,” McGuigan said. “This is being gnawed over like a bone.
“I have to candidly say it’s tough because the most efficient solution would be to bring back the CNC program. We are where we are because the CNC program was discontinued and we are being asked to fix something that we don’t have statutory authority to do.”
Another problem with the affidavit plan – which would have independent contractors sign a form swearing that they did not have employees of their own and are therefore exempt from work comp laws – is that there is nothing in Oklahoma law to require anyone to honor the affidavits.
Aldridge said, from his perspective as a state senator and insurance agent, general contractors will likely be skeptical of the affidavits because Oklahoma law puts the burden of proof on them to make sure no one working with them is violating work comp laws.
“We will probably address this next session,” Aldridge said. “We need to put the burden on the person signing the affidavit.”
But what are owner-operators and others to do until then?
Hartley told Land Line on July 13 that she thought the final meeting on the affidavit draft document would occur that day. She suggested watching the Labor Department’s Web site for updates.
The next regular legislative session doesn’t begin until February 2006. People with existing CNC cards who did not join the frantic dash on June 30 to get a new card good for the next year or two will be in limbo when their current certificates expire.
Most officials agree that regardless whether an owner-operator has a current CNC or obtains one of the new affidavits – assuming they actually become reality – their employment status will not have changed. Aldridge suggests hanging on to expired CNC cards and also carrying tax documents and other paperwork as proof of insurance status.
Labor Commissioner Reneau announced that answers to the most frequent CNC card questions have been updated and can be viewed by visiting the department’s Web site at http://www.state.ok.us/~okdol/ and then clicking on the scrolling red headline about CNC status.
Virginia
A bad idea:
Air dumps in Virginia tunnels
Sneaking through bridge-tunnel is ill-advised
By Aaron Ladage
Staff Writer
As the saying goes, “don’t believe everything you read.” Unless, that is, you’re planning to try to sneak through the westbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel near Norfolk, VA.
A new law in the state, which went into effect on July 1, raises the fine from $85 to $500 and adds three points to the licenses of truckers who ignore signs pointing out height restrictions on the tunnel.
This isn’t a situation where authorities are pumping up the fines just to keep trucks out of the area. According to Tyrone Brown, acting facility manager for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, trucks that try to use the westbound tunnel literally will not be able to fit.
“This is a high-traffic, high volume area – we have a naval base, several military installations and three large ports in this area,” Brown said.
The bridge-tunnel’s history and layout are the reasons for the truck-height problem. Brown said the two submerged tunnels – eastbound and westbound – were constructed about 15 years apart from each other, and the first was built to standards that simply are not tall enough to handle modern truck designs.
“The first tunnel facility was built in 1957, and during that time, truck height didn’t exceed what they do today,” Brown said.
Signage on the eastbound bridge-tunnel helps to alert truckers to the situation, Brown said.
“Let’s say you were coming from the New York area down to Virginia Beach. You would come through our eastbound tunnel first,” Brown said. “On the return trip is the westbound tunnel, which is the smaller tunnel. So we have signage up that says ‘you won’t be able to return this way if you’re over this height.’ ”
Brown said the approach to the westbound tunnel gives truckers plenty of warning about the lower heights, also. Signs have been placed on nearby Interstates 564 and 64, which merge to form I-64 – the roadway the bridge-tunnel is on.
If a truck does make it onto I-64, a series of four over-height sensors – one less than two miles away from the tunnel entrance, one at an inspection station three-quarters of a mile away, another at about a quarter of a mile away, and a fourth close to the tunnel’s mouth – will alert a truck over 13 feet 6 inches tall if it attempts to pass.
The reason for the increased fine, he said, isn’t a moneymaking scheme. Trucks are doing an air dump – releasing the air in their suspension to lower their overall height – to try to sneak past the over-height sensors.
Unfortunately, Brown said, many trucks trip the sensors at stations three and four, after their suspensions re-inflate. By this point, they have already missed the provided turnaround point, and traffic has to be stopped to get the truck out.
Brown said trucks account for 92 percent of all stoppages on the bridge-tunnel. He estimates that trucks sneak past the first two sensors approximately 18 times a day, each of which takes about five minutes to stop traffic in both directions, clear an area for the truck to exit and get it moving in the opposite direction.
“Every five-minute stoppage basically equates to about a mile-and-a-half backup, so it’s become a really big issue,” Brown said.
The tunnel authority has started a notification program that includes handing out flyers to truck drivers and contacting trucking companies to let them know of the fine increase. The program also outlines how to use the alternate route, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel – built to a height of 16 feet in 1992 – about 25 miles out of the way.
“Even though we’re talking about a 25-mile detour, that could take you anywhere from an hour to two and a half hours,” Brown said.
This extra drive, Brown said, is what’s causing the truckers to take the chance on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
“What the drivers are asking themselves is, ‘Do I want to take the chance and do that six miles and see if I can beat the over-height, or do I just want to take 25 miles and go all the way around?’ ” Brown said. “That decision is being made in the cab of the truck.”
