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Workers Compensation

  • Workers' comp insurers must repay customers
    May 20, 2010


    Florida workers' compensation insurers must start paying back customers: a state in law Florida requires that any excess profits made by workers' compensation insurers must be returned to policy holders.

    The Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarthy has ordered that 16 insurance companies must pay a total of $9.4 million back to customers. Newly released data revealed that the companies in question realized excess profits in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

    According to the law, they now have 60 days following McCarthy's announcement on Tuesday to make refunds or credit policy renewals or they will face penalties from the state government.























  • Exams of injured workers often one-sided
    May 04, 2010

    The New York Times recently investigated the independent medical examiners within the state workers' compensation system; the doctors who decide who is injured and who is not. They are often the most disputed component of New York state's system and are used more there than in any other state.

     

    An independent exam is called upon by insurance companies because it is intended to "flush out" workers who are exaggerating the extent of their injuries or who are seeking care that may be unnecessary. These reports have the tendency to benefit insurers over the injured by minimizing or even dismissing injuries as nonexistent. 

     

    Independent medical examiners do not need special training, just a state medical license and a specialty. The majority of medical examiners are semi-retired, older physicians who no longer see any other patients. 

     

    Many feel that these physicians have ceased to be neutral and have picked a side. Workers can contest the opinions of independent medical examiners and are often successful. Judges frequently dismiss the medical examiner's findings. 

     

    Medical examiners often see dozens of injured workers a day,  and for many, the exams only last a few minutes. Doctors feel that they are pressured to produce a quantity of reports over quality and claim they rarely have time to check the accuracy of their reports.

     

    For many years, these exams went unmonitored. However, recent rules allow workers to videotape exams and bring along a witness of their choosing. However, this practice is rarely promoted or encouraged, especially by the physicians. When videotapes are taken, they more often than not reveal discrepancies between exams and written reports sent to insurance companies. 





















  • OSHA to crackdown on unsafe workplaces
    Apr 30, 2010

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced on Wednesday that it will launch a sweeping crackdown on dangerous workplaces. In the United States, there are thousands of work related deaths a year, with an average of 14 deaths per day.

     

    OSHA has been criticized in the past for allowing companies to become slack in workplace safety. As well, the drive to keep injury records as close to zero as possible have encouraged to companies to falsify injury records and encourage their employees not to fill out OSHA paperwork if they do become injured.

     

    The Cintas laundry company underwent no federal inspections for years until an employee was pulled into a laundry dryer and killed in the over 300 degree heat. It was common practice at the workplace for employees to climb on conveyor belts to dislodge clothing that had become stuck going into the dryers. The company was supposedly unaware the practice had gone on until the employee died.

     

    The Cintas laundry company was not given any OSHA violations until after the incident that caused the employee's death. However, OSHA did issue the biggest fine of its kind to the company: $2.8 million.

     

    OSHA administrator David Michaels has said that he believes there are a lot of irresponsible employers who fail to give workers a safe environment to work in. OSHA promises a crackdown in the future with over 100 new inspectors hired.



















  • Workplace incentives slow workers compensation claims
    Apr 21, 2010


    A New York Times study has explored the world of "safety bucks" or incentives employers give to employees as meant to encourage workplace safety and reduce work-related injuries. Critics argue that it instead discourages individuals from reporting accidents and injuries.

     

    Safety bucks are coupons that can be redeemed like real money at restaurants, big box stores and area businesses. They are one of many safety incentives employers have introduced the past few years in an effort to cut down on work-related injuries and their costs. 

     

    Workers must grapple between reporting an injury and risk hurting their peers' benefits or going untreated to keep peace at work. Employers feel the expense of the system and worry about fraudulent claims. However, there is no independent study that has proven or unproven fraudulent claims being on the rise.

     

    Other companies work not in an incentive program, but in a punishment system, known as progressive discipline when injuries sustained at work are deemed as partially the worker's fault. The system starts with a warning, weaves through probation and suspension and ends with job termination. 

     

    Their are cases when employers have discouraged workers from going to the hospital, claiming the employer will pay for the employees medical bills. Employees have agreed, only to never see a penny. Some employees have reported lying to a doctor or emergency room, claiming they sustained their injury at home to not risk termination or alienation from their peers at the workplace. But, in the end the cost is more as they face mounting medical bills they alone have to pay.




















  • Federal judge allows FMLA claim against individuals
    Mar 02, 2010

    A federal judge in Pennsylvania has refused to dismiss claims against 3 human resource executives and a manager after the plaintiff, Dmitri Narodetsky claims the individuals sought out a reason to fire him after he requested leave from work for surgery.

    Narodetsky says that a few days after he informed his bosses that he needed surgery, he was confronted in a meeting about a pornographic e-mail discovered on his computer. He then filed a suit, naming the company, the company's president, and the four individuals who he claims violated his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

    The defense attempted to get the individual defendants dismissed from the case. The federal judge says all the individuals were named in the defense because each had the power to fire the plaintiff. 























     

  • Travelers spent $1.66 million lobbying gov't in 4Q
    Feb 17, 2010

    The State reports that insurance company, Travelers cos. spent $1.66 million dollars in the fourth quarter of this past year lobbying the federal government on such spanning issues as global warming, workers compensation, and consumer protection rights. 

    The insurer continues to seek new costumers even in this difficult economic time. Based in New York, Travelers insures commercial and property, which is made difficult by the fact that employers have had to let go of employees, hire less and have seen their property values drop, which means less to offer to the insurer.

    In the last quarter 0f 2008, spanning from October-December, the company spent only $1.43 million dollars in comparison to this years expense lobbying Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, and the White House among others. 

  • Court sides with injured migrant worker
    Feb 17, 2010

  • Washingto Governor Gregoire, Boeing Co. and Workers Compensation
    Feb 17, 2010

  • South Carolina Legislators Pass Workers Compensation Bill
    Feb 17, 2010

    On Tuesday, House of the South Carolina legislature approved a bill from the Senate that would revise workers' compensation coverage for firefighters. Firefighters covered under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation law regarding heart and respiratory disease. Firefighters suffering related injury or illness relating to these disease will now covered if the injuries or illnesses are considered to have risen in of or out of employment as a firefighter. This is decided if the firefighter successfully passed a physical examination in the last two years. 

    The bill, now that it has been approved by both Houses of the legislature, has been sent for ratification. The South Carolina House Representatives will take a furlough for the next week and will not be in session. 

  • S.C. man dies after being shocked, falling 100 feet
    Jul 08, 2009

    The Associated Press
     
    BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. -- A man has died after he apparently was shocked and fell 100 feet from a South Carolina high school football stadium where he was changing lightbulbs.

    The Morning News of Florence reported that 36-year-old John Christopher Touchberry of Florence died about noon Tuesday after he fell at McAlpine Stadium in Bennettsville.

    Police Sgt. Larry Turner says Touchberry was electrocuted and later fell about 100 feet from his work platform. Police say Touchberry was on the lighting tower platform for some time before he fell.

     http://www.scnow.com 
     

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