CHARLESTON, S.C., Sept. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Attorney Malcolm M. Crosland Jr., outgoing president of the Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group® (WILG), reflects on the past year's triumphs, as well as challenges.
WILG is a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to representing the interests of millions of workers and their families who, each year, suffer the consequences of work-related injuries or occupational illnesses and who need expert legal assistance to obtain medical care and other relief under workers' compensation programs. WILG members share information and knowledge and network to help each other and their clients.
President Crosland admits that COVID-19 made this year challenging but, despite those challenges, Crosland and the WILG accomplished a great deal during 2021.
One of their most significant accomplishments involved creating a WILG task force to address and advocate against the planned editorial revisions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Sixth Edition). The American Medical Association (AMA) publishes the guide as a resource for physicians to use in evaluating and assessing permanent impairment caused by an injury. More than 40 states and several countries reference the AMA guide as the accepted authority to evaluate and rate permanent loss of function from an injury, which in turn, is part of the determination of the amount of compensation a worker can obtain for their accident related disability.
Approximately two years ago, the AMA minimally announced it intended to revise the Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Sixth Edition). The methodology to change and update the guide was not transparent. Based on the effect of prior revisions of the guides, Attorney Crosland feared that additional changes by the AMA to the sixth edition would only accelerate what many workers' comp law practitioners feel was already an erosion of impairment ratings based on the prior conditions by publishing periodic updates to the guides based on shareholder input. The sixth edition was heavily criticized when it was initially published and its use rejected by many states and workers' comp systems because of how the edition was edited and the generally accepted fact that it reduced impairment ratings to the detriment of workers. This guide is crucial as it influences the flow of millions of dollars of workers' compensation benefits annually.
Another task Attorney Crosland took on was expanding and adding diversity to WILG's membership and board. While approximately a thousand lawyers across 50 states are a part of the WILG, the membership does not reflect the world today. To improve diversity among the organization, WILG hired a diversity consultant to rework the organization's diversity policy and create structural permanent policies and procedures that will help ensure diversity within the WILG even after Crosland's tenure as president ends. WILG's goal is to improve racial and gender membership diversity as well as LGBTQ and socio-economic based membership.
Attorney Crosland will successfully finish out his term as WILG president at the end of September and will continue to serve on several committees. As immediate past president, he is the chair of the nominating committee and serves on the AMA guide task force he helped create. Malcolm Crosland plans to continue his advocacy for workers' rights and practice law in workers' compensation and personal injury with The Steinberg Law Firm, where he is a partner in their Charleston, South Carolina office.
The Steinberg Law Firm has advocated for injured workers since 1927. Founder, Irving Steinberg, was instrumental in working to get workers' compensation laws on the books in the state of South Carolina and the firm carries on his legacy today. For more information, visit their website at https://www.steinberglawfirm.com or call (843) 720-2800.
Media Contact
Patti Mellott, Steinberg Law Firm, +1 (843) 720-2800, [email protected]
SOURCE Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group
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