I would like to take this chance to stress to the Workers Compensation Bar the importance of having your current e-mail address on file with our office. Beginning on Monday, July 18th at least some of the settlement conferences in the Settlement Division will begin undergoing a more thorough screening process. Where there is some question about whether a settlement conference is ready to be set, our staff will be contacting the parties to gather updated information. To make this a viable option we will increasingly be relying on e-mail as a communication tool. If you do not have an e-mail address on file with our office I urge you to file it immediately. Our staff has been instructed that the first time they contact a party whose address is not on file to ask for that address. In the future e-mail, and not the phone, is how we will contact the parties for updated information.
There may well be additional uses for e-mail in the future. However, at this time our main goal is to get the settlement conference screening process up and running. Once the e-mail system is in place, and a viable communication tool, we can consider broader uses of e-mail by our office and the Bar. I would certainly appreciate hearing from all of you regarding other future uses of e-mail as a communication tool.
I would ask that in using e-mail to communicate with our office that you observe two rules. One, because e-mail is not secure, do NOT use the Social Security or File Number in any of your correspondence with us. Two, if you receive e-mail from us regarding scheduling a Settlement Conference use the REPLY feature of your e-mail to reply to the e-mail. Also set up your e-mail so that it includes the original message. Because we will not be using the File Number in our e-mail if you use REPLY it will make it easier for our staff to identify the file and take the appropriate action. Thank you.
William R. Johnson
Assistant Chief Admin. Law Judge
Workers Compensation Section
William.R.Johnson@ state.mn.us
Last Updated - July 15, 2005