By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
St. Louis – A Republican lawmaker is accusing Missouri Auditor Susan Montee of having a conflict of interest in her recent audit of a fund for injured workers.
The Second Injury fund provides money for already disabled workers who are injured again on the job. Montee's audit states that the fund will go bankrupt next year because of a 2005 law that caps employer contributions into the fund.
Steve Hunter chairs the House committee that oversees worker compensation issues. He agrees with some of the findings, but he said someone else should have conducted the audit because Montee's husband's law firm handles employment law cases:
"Actually what she should've done is recused herself and asked an independent firm to come in and do this," Hunter said.
But Montee's spokesman Sean Spence said there is no conflict of interest.
"The state audit was conducted by an audit team, the leader of which has been a member of the audit office for over 30 years," Spence said "So from that perspective this is, you know, a standard audit."
Spence says the Second Injury fund is running out of money because of a two-year old law that caps employer contributions into the fund.
Hunter, meanwhile, is also calling for hearings into what caused the fund to dry up.