OKLAHOMA CITY – Mark Liotta has offered an early resignation from his chairmanship of the Workers’ Compensation Commission.
“With the expiration of my term as commissioner, there will be a need for you to appoint a new chairman,” Liotta informed Gov. Kevin Stitt. “In order to facilitate a smooth transition, I hereby request you appoint a new chairman early, effective 1 June 2021.”
Liotta’s appointment as a Workers’ Compensation Commissioner expires Aug. 25, 2021. He said he intends to serve out the remainder of his term in order to offer his support to the new WCC chairman.
“I don’t really have a plan,” he said Tuesday. “I’ve got a couple of potential offers.”
The WCC operates with three commissioners on staggered six-year terms. The governor appoints one to the position of chair of the commission.
Liotta was nominated to the WCC six years ago, in May 2015, by then-House Speaker Jeff Hickman, and was appointed chairman by former Gov. Mary Fallin. Liotta’s successor will be Republican former state legislator Scott Biggs, who begins a six-year term as a WCC commissioner on Aug. 26.
Biggs served seven years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives before resigning in November 2017 after he was appointed state executive director of the Oklahoma USDA Farm Service Agency by the Trump Administration. During Liotta’s term as chairman, the WCC established itself as a solidly managed agency, repeatedly ranking high in leadership among its 46 employees. Also, the WCC has twice been ranked first in the nation in terms of reducing workers’ compensation costs for state employers.
Liotta commended the WCC staff as the “finest in state government.” He told the governor, “You will find clear and abundant evidence of a cohesive team of professionals who have achieved both State and National objective high rankings.”
Workers’ injury cases are moved faster, with far fewer appeals, and more than 60 insurers have chosen to move their book of business back into Oklahoma during Liotta’s tenure. Under his leadership the WCC has voluntarily combined significant processes with the Court of Existing Claims both in Tulsa and OKC to reduce costs and provide more effective service.
The chairman has the following duties in addition to his/her role as a commissioner: To organize, direct and develop the administrative work of the administrative law judges, including but not limited to docketing, clerical, technical and financial work and establishment of hours of operation; to employ administrative staff for the commission, within budgetary limitation; and such other duties and responsibilities authorized by law or as the commission may prescribe.
CONVERSION TO ADMIN SYSTEM WAS EFFECTIVE
With enactment of Senate Bill 1062 in 2013 by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, workers’ comp in Oklahoma switched from a court-based system (renamed the Court of Existing Claims) to an administrative system (the Workers’ Compensation Commission). The two systems have been operating side-by-side since Feb. 1, 2014, but the court-based system is tentatively scheduled to be disbanded on July 1, 2022.
Liotta said the change has had a dramatic and positive effect. According to the Republican former legislator from Tulsa:
• Filing of injury dispute cases has been slashed by more than 50% since 2013, and that rate has been maintained every year since. The WCC “has never reached more than 8,000 claims per year,” Liotta said, while the court-based system averaged almost 16,000 claims per year in 2001-2012.
• The average adjudication time for a disputed injury case has declined by more than 50% since 2013.
• The disposition of cases which avoid expensive trials is now five times the number that require trial or appeal, and cases going to mediation have increased threefold.
• The filing of appeals to WCC administrative law judge rulings has plummeted by more than 90% from the average filings of the old court, and have maintained that rate every year of the WCC. For example, appeals plunged from 1,207 in 2004 to 119 in 2019.
• Full-time-equivalent employees required to provide an increase in services since 2013 have declined by 36%, from 72 Court employees to 46 Commission employees.
• The insurance underwriters’ estimate of injury loss costs for Oklahoma businesses has dropped by more than 60%.
• The average cost of premiums for Oklahoma businesses, governments and schools is down by almost one-third (more than $300 million annually).
BIO INFO
Liotta previously was the chief deputy to the Tulsa Board of County Commissioners.
He served 10 years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he held six different leadership positions, including chairman of the Republican Caucus.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management of Human Resources at Southern Nazarene University. After which he worked 18 years in the private sector for a pipeline services company in both construction and manufacturing, as a quality manager and as a human resources manager.
In addition, Liotta served seven years as an infantry officer in Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Brigade as a platoon leader, earning two Oklahoma commendation medals.