Do you think there is workers’ comp insurance coverage on the Yellowstone Ranch? What about paid family and medical leave?
The fictional Yellowstone Ranch is the spectacular starring location of the “Yellowstone” TV series, now running on CBS after first being aired on a streaming network. The show is a 21st-century Western, replete with cowboys, cattle, horses and modern intrigue. People get injured in every episode.
In the last episode of Season 3, several people get shot, but I am more curious about Jimmy, the incompetent cowboy who dreams of rodeo stardom. Against orders, he rides a bucking horse with no one else around (an obvious safety hazard), gets thrown off and is last seen unconscious on the ground.
I thought of this because a few days after seeing the episode, at the Roundhouse I saw an old friend from the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, who said her list of legislative chores included opposing the paid family and medical leave bill. She said it would be ruinous to ranchers.
New Mexico ranchers have already lost their exemption from the workers’ compensation coverage requirement, through the courts rather than by legislation.That TV show reminded me of why they had the exemption in the first place.
On the Yellowstone Ranch, the employees live on the property. They are housed, fed and provided with medical care at the employer’s expense. They don’t work set hours but do whatever task is needed at any time of day or night. They probably don’t get overtime pay because their time is not measured.
Back in the real world, when New Mexico ranchers were arguing against mandatory workers’ compensation coverage, they said that’s what their lives are like. The workers’ comp system, they said, is not a good fit with a system where employees are compensated partly with intangibles rather than money.
The ranch hands at Yellowstone are, conveniently, all bachelors so there’s no need for family leave. They don’t need medical leave because the ranch is their home.
The fictional Yellowstone ranch is in Montana, which is not among the 15 states that still exempt agriculture from the workers’ compensation requirement. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
So the fictional ranch has coverage. But what will happen to poor Jimmy, the stupid cowboy? A preview of next season says he will be paralyzed, but it doesn’t say whether the condition is permanent.
If Jimmy files a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, I am pretty sure his claim would be denied. His accident was not work-related. He was not on that horse for any work-related purpose.
Whether to cover his injury would not be determined by his politically powerful employer. It would be determined by the ranch’s insurance company. If he’s paralyzed for life, his future medical care could cost a few million dollars. The insurance company would want to avoid that and would be justified.
Would the ranch take care of him anyway? Would he retain his bed in the bunkhouse and his place at the dinner table?
If this happened in New Mexico under the Paid Family and Medical Leave bill that almost passed, how would medical leave apply in this situation?
Jimmy might accept the generosity of whatever his employer offered voluntarily. But if he claimed medical leave, I think he would have to sue to get a court to determine what he was entitled to.
The defeated Paid Family and Medical Leave Act contains no exemptions for specific industries. When it comes back next year, I wonder if my friend will propose an exemption for ranches or just join with other business groups in trying to kill the bill.
Contact Merilee Dannemann through www.triplespacedagain.com.