Senators debate making workers' comp injury reports confidential

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

Feb. 25, 2026, midnight ·

Sen. Bob Hallstrom debates Wednesday (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News) — Sen. Bob Hallstrom debates Wednesday. (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

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A legislative proposal that supporters say would prevent unnecessary litigation in workers' compensation cases met objections on Wednesday that it could deprive injured people of representation.

Sen. Bob Hallstrom is the lead introducer of the workers' compensation bill debated Wednesday. It would require that the first reports about an on-the-job injury be confidential, rather than being considered a public record, as they are now. Hallstrom said his bill would prevent lawyers from contacting injured workers with what he says are unnecessary offers to represent them.

“LB455 is designed to offset the avalanche of solicitations which injured employees receive from attorneys once a report of first injury is filed with the Workers' Compensation court. Protecting injured workers from this invasion of privacy should cause no harm to employees in need of legal representation,” Hallstrom said.

Hallstrom said the current system increases costs for workers and employers.

“The communications by lawyers pursuant to information contained within the first injury reports produce unnecessary conflicts and needless litigation, thereby increasing the cost of workers' compensation system and reducing the net benefits received by an injured employee,” he said.

Opposing the bill, Sen. George Dungan said it could make it harder for injured workers to get the help they need.

“To deprive an individual the opportunity to seek legal counsel, or to make it harder for an individual to seek legal counsel when facing one of the most difficult and complex situations they may ever find themselves in, is a problem,” Dungan said.

Sen. Megan Hunt said the bill is typical of unnecessary anti-worker, pro-business legislation.

“How does this make injured workers safer? How does this improve the quality of life of Nebraskans who exchange their labor for profits for their employer in our state? How does this prevent injuries? How does this improve recovery? And I'm really struggling to find those answers," she said. "Once again, all I'm seeing from this legislation is another tick on the wish list of the people in our state who are already the most powerful and the most advantaged."

Dungan referred to a list of injuries that resulted in workers' compensation claims.

“You open up the spreadsheet, and the first thing on the list is vision loss from chemicals that somebody got while they were cleaning at a grocery store. That is significant. That is serious," he said. "We are talking about people who have been injured on the job, who are seeking to ensure that they have their medical bills paid and that they are not broke while they recover from that injury and get back to a place where they can actually return to work, which, again, I think everybody can agree, is the goal."

Hallstrom said people are aware, through advertising and other means, that they can get a lawyer if they need one. And he said not all injuries require that, giving an example.

“An employer who has a nanny providing services in-house, who clips her finger on a rose bush outside the front door, the employer, who happened to be an attorney, out of abundance of caution, files a first injury report. This required a little bit of ointment and a band aid, and the nanny was inundated with 12, 15, 20 solicitations,” he said.

But Sen. John Cavanaugh, opposing the bill, said that story reminded him of an expression from law school.

“’Bad facts make bad law.’ And so if you are going to make a determination about how the entire worker's compensation system should work, based off of one person who got solicited more times than was necessary for them to get the assistance that they needed, that's making bad law based off of one bad fact pattern,” Cavanaugh said.

The Legislature adjourned for the day before reaching a first-round vote on the bill. Hallstrom said supporters and opponents are working on a possible compromise amendment that could delay the release of first injury reports for 60 days to see if further action is necessary, and could provide interpreters for injured workers if English is not their first language.

Further debate on the measure is scheduled for Thursday.