Opinion ID: 1919526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: History of Louisiana's Wage-Loss Benefit Coordination Laws

Text: In 1978, apparently in response to the federal law which then allowed states to enact a reverse offset of Social Security disability benefits against workers' compensation benefits, the Louisiana Legislature enacted a reverse offset provision that is presently set forth in La.Rev.Stat. 23:1225 A. [7] However, the Legislature limited the 1978 reverse offset provision to permanent total workers' compensation benefits. Given that plaintiff presently is neither entitled to nor receiving permanent total workers' compensation benefits, Section 1225 A's reverse offset is inapplicable, as the trial court correctly concluded. In 1983 the Legislature amended La.Rev. Stat. 23:1225 to add other wage-loss benefit coordination provisions. However, because of the 1981 federal cutoff date, the 1983 amendments could not broaden the reverse offset provision originally enacted in 1978 and contained in the present Section 1225 A. Therefore, Section 1225 C(1), unlike Section 1225 A, is not a reverse offset provision. Since Section 1225 C(1) was enacted too late to reap the benefits of the reverse offset from Social Security previously available, its apparent purpose was to incorporate other types of public and private benefits that might be coordinated with workers' compensation benefits.