By Hector Gonzalez
Special to The Lookout

December 16, 2015 -- Santa Monica is rehiring its outside technical consultant to help in the ongoing battle to rein in the City's escalating workers' compensation costs, which amounted to more than $7 million last fiscal year alone.

The City's 2012 contract with TCS Risk Management Services of San Ramon, which provides workers comp program management consulting for eight California cities and counties, including Santa Monica since 2010, was set to expire this month.

Council members last renewed the firm's contract two years ago, giving TCS a three-year deal not to exceed $166,150.

The consultant continues to do a good job, said a staff report, which recommended that the City Council, as part of its consent calendar on Tuesday's agenda, again approve a new agreement with TSC, this time for five years for an amount not to exceed $212,500.

Since 2010, TSC has tracked and analyzed worker's comp costs and other data, generating quarterly reports that allow staff to “proactively monitor program performance,” said a staff report.

Founded in 2001, TSC employs a “metric system to identify program cost-drivers and loss trends, then formulate and implement solutions,” according to the company’s website.

“Given the value of these services, staff recommends the City continue to use a workers’ compensation consultant to prepare quarterly, in-depth program performance analyses,” said staff. “Further, staff envisions a need for these services well into the future.”

According to a year-end report on the City's workers' comp program released in November, medical costs comprised $3.6 million of the $7.6 million associated with work-related injuries, surgeries and work time lost to recuperation, with indemnity payments accounting for the balance.

Temporary disability totaled $2.6 million and permanent disability accounted for another $1.4 million, according to the report.

Aging City employees are adding to the continuing rise in workers' comp costs since 2011-12, a March 2014 report said.

From June 2013 to January 2014, the City paid out nearly $4 million in lost wages and medical treatment for employees injured on the job, resulting from a 22 percent increase in injury claims filed in fiscal year 2011-2012, the report said.

“Claim frequency began spiking in FY 2011-12 and has yet to ease,” the report said.

The most recent workers comp report from November identified the Santa Monica Police Department as the “driving force” behind the increasing work-related and temporary disability claims filed in 2014-
15.

A current City policy pays sworn officers 100 percent of their salaries while recuperating from injuries, including from surgeries.

Work-related surgeries for SMPD employees doubled from 11 in 2013-14 to 24 in 2014-15, with most of those operations related to orthopedic surgeries such as shoulders, knees, hips and back, Finance Director Gigi Decavalles-Hughes said in November.

Officers who are off work due to injuries have to be replaced by other officers, driving up costs further for overtime, she said.

“Controlling the City’s escalating workers’ compensation costs continues to be a priority,” said Tuesday's staff report.