Fund officials said there has been an increase of cases in which disabled workers continue to get a disability paycheck - up to $630 a week - even though they could go back to work, at least part time, but don't because of their own actions. For example, they are undocumented immigrants, in jail, or were fired because of their own misconduct, said Lane Summerhays, president and CEO of the Workers Compensation Fund.

So the drafted proposal to change state law is to make sure people in these cases do not continue receiving a disability paycheck. It would also help keep workers compensation insurance costs down for employers, he said.

"We're trying to eliminate people using the system in an unfair way," Summerhays said Monday.

Medical benefits for injured workers would not be affected under the proposal, fund officials said. Other disability benefits, such as if a worker dies or loses a limb on the job, will not be affected, they said. "It doesn't matter if they're undocumented, they're covered," Summerhays said.

He said he has no idea how many injured workers this might affect or the number of cases where a situation like this has happened already. He said the fund doesn't investigate a person's U.S. documentation status, so there's not a way to know if they're undocumented unless it comes up in the claim process.

"It's not going to come to light all the time," Summerhays said.

The Workers Compensation Fund, a private Utah company, provides workers compensation insurance mandated by the state for employers, and issues benefits for injured employees. It oversees some 30,000 claims a year statewide, Summerhays said.

The fund is scheduled to pitch its proposal at the Workers' Compensation Advisory Council meeting on Thursday. The council is made up of 10 voting members, equally representing employers and employees, and a handful of other representatives. Utah Labor Commissioner Sherrie Hayashi said she could not comment on the proposal because the commission cannot take a stance on legislation.

Sen. Ed Mayne, a West Valley City Democrat, sits on the advisory council and is the president of the Utah AFL-CIO. He said he couldn't comment because he wants to look at the proposal. Still, he said worker compensation benefits need to be paid to disabled workers, regardless of their U.S. documentation status, because it's the employer's responsibility to make sure their employees can legally work here.

"They better have a good reason," Mayne said of the fund's proposal. "I'm going to look at this with a microscope."

jsanchez@sltrib.com

Public meeting

* WHAT: Workers' Compensation Advisory Council

* WHEN: 11 a.m. Thursday

* WHERE: Heber M. Wells Building

160 E. 300 South, third floor, Room 319

* ON THE AGENDA: A proposal to cut some disability benefits for some injured workers