Ask the Division

Dear Division of Workers' Compensation:

Recently I have been receiving numerous notices from the Division setting my cases on the voluntary conference docket. Could you please explain how the Division determines which cases to set on its conference docket?

Sincerely,
Lost Under a Pile of Notices

Dear Lost Under a Pile of Notices:

A voluntary settlement conference is a proceeding before an administrative law judge held in cases where the employer/insurer has filed a Form WC-1-EDI FROI (the First Report of Injury) or the employee has initiated a case through the Dispute Management Unit. The case may be set by written request of a party completing Form WC-182 (Request for Voluntary Conference) or it may be set at the discretion of the Division.

Conferences will be set within one hundred twenty (120) days after the local adjudication office receives the request. If the request is received too late to be set on a docket scheduled within one hundred twenty (120) days or, if no dockets are scheduled in that docket location for one hundred twenty (120) days, the case shall be set on the next available docket.

When a Claim for Compensation (WC-21) is filed and the case is tickled or docketed for a conference setting, the tickler or docket setting is automatically cancelled. The case is automatically tickled for a prehearing from the filing of a Claim.

Based upon the supplemental reports that are filed with the Division, information is provided on certain non-contested cases where the employee may be entitled to receive additional benefits. The Division notifies the employee that he/she should contact the Division if the injury results in:

Surgery;
Permanent disability to a part of the body as determined by a physician;
Disability to the employee's eyes;
Requires medical treatment or disability to the teeth; or
Scarring or disfigurement to the employee's face, neck, hands or arms.

If the employee wishes to have his/her case set on a docket or believes that the case is ready to be settled and all medical care has been completed, the employee is informed to fill out the Form WC-182 “Request for Voluntary Conference” and submit it to the Division to request a conference setting.

The Division automatically refers injuries that result in death to the employee, permanency ratings filed, or settlement offers filed to the appropriate adjudication office for setting on the docket or taking other appropriate action as needed.

Please note that the Division is currently in the process of evaluating its procedure with respect to the medical-only injuries in order to determine available options to inform both the employer and the employee about the existence of certain injuries that could result in the need of a conference setting in non-contested cases.

Sincerely,
Nasreen Esmail, Legal Counsel
Division of Workers' Compensation
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations