Colorado Faces Federal Pressure to Hand Over Workers' Compensation Payment Data to Social Security Administration
In a recent federal court ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney declared that Colorado must comply with a federal subpoena requiring the state's labor department to hand over data related to workers' compensation payments.
The demand for this information has been ongoing for three years, with the U.S. Social Security Administration seeking to audit Colorado and other states known as "reverse offset jurisdictions."
According to federal law, the inspector general's office has the authority to access this data for auditing purposes, even if it means disregarding state laws. The final report released in September 2023 estimated that Social Security Administration had mistakenly paid $138 million to beneficiaries in reverse offset states due to a lack of data sharing.
The inspector general's office has also stated that it could not include Colorado's data in the audit due to the state's refusal to comply with the federal subpoena.
Colorado has been adamant in its refusal, citing state law that only permits access to claims data for entities operating under the Colorado Workers' Compensation Act. Assistant Attorney General Evan P. Brennan emphasized the potential negative impact of releasing personal identifying information to the federal government, stating that it could discourage injured workers from reporting their injuries.
Assistant Attorney General Evan P. Brennan also expressed concerns about the potential for this information to be used for immigration enforcement purposes.
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Despite Colorado's opposition, the U.S. Department of Justice argued that federal law takes precedence over state law and courts have routinely enforced administrative subpoenas despite state restrictions on disclosure. U.S. District Court Judge Sweeney agreed with this argument and ordered the state's labor department to hand over the data by December 29th.