A “help wanted” ad recently caught my attention. As a former Time Warner employee, I commend Charter/Spectrum for recognizing the influence that equipment choices have on a workforce. Today’s techs are expected to carry 90 pounds total. Ladders are now 68 pounds lighter than the one I was assigned a decade ago. Then, five of seven men I worked with had knee injuries. None still work in the industry.

CHUBB provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage for over 100,000 Charter/Spectrum employees nationwide, including a thousand in Maine, as it did for TWC before. It seems to come down to three things to the insurer: Ethics; if it’s not illegal, it’s ethical. Liability; always disputable. Exposure; measured in U.S. dollars, to the insurer such things as knees are like worn ball joints – replace as required. They’ve supported prescription “pain relief” whenever possible, as does, it appears, Maine Workers’ Compensation. Seems contrary to the opioid settlement, in spirit at least.

We might expect the Maine workers’ compensation system to act as a neutral intermediary, but that’s not been my experience. As a case lengthens, the more employer-friendly the system appears to become.

The insurer has refused to provide physician-ordered treatment, prescribed medicines, other recommended treatments and, most importantly, reemployment help or training of any kind. Workers’ compensation has done nothing to hold them to account either. I’m sure I’m not alone. That’s the real problem.

David Clark
Machias