KY Bill to Ease WC Burden on Churches

Frankfort, KY (Workerscompensation.com) — Trinity Church Pastor Anthony Storino preaches the Good News with assurance and insurance.

Though the Toms River, NJ preacher has all faith in goodness, the congregation leader in the most densely populated state in the country will not be conned.

“I hate to say it, but people are very hard to trust at times. Whether they are in church or not, you want to be covered because you don’t know what other people’s agendas are, especially when it comes to churches,” Storino said when asked about Kentucky House Bill 306 introduced by Rep. Michael Meredith (R-Brownsville).

The legislator does not see it that way. “In many small community churches, pastors do not receive salaries and therefore are not church employees,” Rep. Meredith said of the bill intended to relieve small churches in the 22^nd most densely populated state of high premiums and non-compliance fines.

Final passage in the Senate has been granted to excuse ministers, who do not have a written or oral agreement over salary or wages, from workers’ compensation mandates. 

Kentucky attorney Karl Truman, a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, said the bill impact is “fairly narrow because it does just reference a minister from a church and or a caretaker of a cemetery or religious organization.”

“I don't think there is a broad sweeping reform like we have seen in recent workers’ compensation laws that affect workers across the board. This is narrowly tailored for this specific class of employees for the churches,” said Truman, who has offices out of both Louisville and Jeffersonville.

Prior to the bill, large fines loomed over small churches that did not provide workers’ compensation insurance for unpaid pastors. The bill would additionally allow exemptions for caretakers who work fewer than 10 hours a week, classifying them as independent contractors and not church employees. 

“The other side of this is that if the minister or caretaker would be exempt from workers’ compensation that means if a church member or someone from the church were to negligently hurt them, then it opens up the church to a liability claim. That is an aspect that was overlooked when this bill was crafted, according to Truman.

“Say they are on an outing in a church van and an employee is driving and hurts anyone in the car. Traditionally, they could not sue co-workers or the church for negligence, but now if these people are exempt from workers’ compensation does that open a church up to tort liability?” Truman asked.

Aside from possible lawsuits, there remains constant fraud. Mischelle Bensch, of Michigan, recently transgressed by theft when she attempted to cheat the church and the system, but was caught. She now owes the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation $8,617 after confessing she was accepting injured workers’ benefits and serving as a paid church secretary.

Though the bill would help deter fraud and battle burdensome mandates and fines for small fellowships, larger congregations do not expect much impact from the bill, per Joni Way, Director of Administrative Services and Treasurer of Kentucky Conference United Methodist Church. “With what limited information we have seen in the press suggests that this will have little impact on UMC churches or pastors," Way said of the church based out of Crestwood, KY.

According to Rep. Meredith, the little money small churches do have should be sowed into spiritual soil and not the pockets of politicians. “These selfless servants minister to their congregations and provide essential services to the community because they are called to do so,” he said. “The offerings collected at these churches should be used to sustain their congregations and maintain their churches, not to pay fines issued by bureaucrats in Frankfort.”

Again, better safe than sorry per Pastor Storino. “I agree with insurances. I do. As crazy as they get sometimes as far as premiums, you still must be covered,” he said.

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