Highlights of a report by Conolly & Associates, a consulting firm, about management practices and suggested changes at North Dakota's workers compensation agency. The firm is headed by Henry Neal Conolly, an attorney and former director of New York's workers' compensation fund.

BOTCHED REORGANIZATION: A reshuffling of Workforce Safety's employer services division two years ago assigned workers to tasks they were untrained to do, which hurt customer service and eroded workers' morale. WSI board members interviewed by the consultants did not know the details of the problems, the report says. The changes have been reversed, but the ill will engendered by them still festers, it says.

HARDSHIP CASES: Workforce Safety should develop "hardship" guidelines for complex injury cases, and cases in which it is difficult to train an injured worker for a different job, the report says. The cases would be reviewed by the chief executive officer "to assure that the claim is being handled with recognition of the importance of public confidence in WSI."

DECISION REVIEWS: The report suggests allowing Workforce Safety's Office of Independent Review, which looks into injured workers' complaints about benefit decisions, to reverse unfavorable rulings if the evidence justifies it. Another option, the report says, is to order the chief executive officer to referee disagreements between the review office and the claims department.

ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGES: Starting last November, Workforce Safety began hiring attorneys to handle administrative appeals of denied benefit claims, and offering them money incentives to decide cases quickly. WSI should consider returning those cases to an independent state agency called the Office of Administrative Hearings, the report says. "Surely public perception of fairness and impartiality is important, if not as important as the fact of such impartiality," it says.

BOARD MEMBERS' PAY: The report says Workforce Safety's 11-member board of directors should meet more often and be paid substantially more. The board is now required to meet at least four times annually. The report recommends a minimum of six meetings, and cites approvingly a separate report's suggestion of at least $17,000 in annual compensation for board members. They are now paid $104 for each day of meetings, plus mileage and expenses. The daily rate is linked to what state legislators are paid to attend interim committee meetings. It is rising to $108 on July 1, and $135 on July 1, 2009.

PREMIUMS: North Dakota's workers compensation insurance premiums are the lowest in the nation, and its benefit payments, which equal 88 cents for every $100 of payroll, ranks 33rd in the country. WSI is charging employers less in premiums each year than it pays in benefits, with the difference made up in investment income and low operating costs.

CLAIMS REVIEW: The report praised Workforce Safety's handling of injury claims, and said there was no evidence of any directive to deny certain claims. "There is clearly a focus upon bringing the injured worker to proper and maximum medical improvement, and to getting a claimant back to work as soon as practicable, with proper medical treatment," the report says.

REGULATION: Workforce Safety should be licensed by North Dakota's Insurance Department, which would allow state regulators to set minimum financial standards, conduct regular examinations of its practices and order it to change them if necessary. The report says WSI already has sufficient reserves to pay the future cost of its current injury claims.

GOVERNOR TAKEOVER: The report recommends that the governor be allowed to pick a "recovery administrator" for Workforce Safety if its money reserves get too low. Normally, the state insurance commissioner would take over a financially troubled insurer.