Small contractors sometimes believe that keeping their payroll lean — two employees instead of three — will keep them outside the reach of the workers’ compensation statute. But the Virginia...
Virginia Court Counts Subcontractor Workers in Coverage Threshold Case Virginia Court Counts Subcontractor Workers in Coverage Threshold CaseIn Garcia v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 6549 (2d Cir. Mar. 5, 2026), the Second Circuit denied a petition for review filed by a...
Second Circuit Bars Medical Marijuana Reimbursement Under the Longshore Act Second Circuit Bars Medical Marijuana Reimbursement Under the Longshore ActEvery dollar spent on workers’ compensation falls into one of two broad categories: benefits paid to injured workers—medical care and wage replacement—and the costs of delivering those benefits. The second...
New York’s Hidden Cost Problem: WCRI Examines the Price of Delivering Benefits New York’s Hidden Cost Problem: WCRI Examines the Price of Delivering BenefitsIn Motors v. Bayly (Red House Motors d/b/a Bayly’s Garage), 2026 Del. LEXIS 92 (Mar. 2, 2026), the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Superior Court decision that the high court...
Delaware Supreme Court Reinstates IAB’s Denial of Sole Proprietor Coverage Delaware Supreme Court Reinstates IAB’s Denial of Sole Proprietor CoverageAlthough crash data indicated not only that a Mississippi patrol officer increased his speed steadlily from 53 mph to more than 90 mph in the twelve seconds prior to an...
Mississippi Officer’s High Speed Driving, Without Seatbelt, Did Not Amount to Willful Intent To Injure Himself Mississippi Officer’s High Speed Driving, Without Seatbelt, Did Not Amount to Willful Intent To Injure HimselfLast Thursday, in a split decision, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held that the choice of pharmacy in a workers’ compensation case belongs to the employer, and not the employee...
Louisiana High Court Says Employer—Not Injured Employee—Has Right to Choose Pharmacy Louisiana High Court Says Employer—Not Injured Employee—Has Right to Choose PharmacyIn a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Minnesota held that an injured undocumented worker had raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether an employer had discharged...
Rock and a Hard Place: Placing Injured Undocumented Worker on Unpaid Leave May Be Retaliatory Discharge Rock and a Hard Place: Placing Injured Undocumented Worker on Unpaid Leave May Be Retaliatory DischargeWhere a California worker developed a number of conditions during her 26-year career with her employer, including carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), which medical experts attributed 90 percent to industrial factors...
California: Apportionment Inappropriate Where PTD Results From Medical Treatment, Not the Underlying Condition California: Apportionment Inappropriate Where PTD Results From Medical Treatment, Not the Underlying ConditionObserving that California’s “required vehicle” exception to the going and coming rule arises where the employee’s use of his or her own vehicle gives some incidental benefit to the employer,...
California In-Home Caretaker Awarded Benefits for Injuries Sustained in Bicycle Accident California In-Home Caretaker Awarded Benefits for Injuries Sustained in Bicycle AccidentIn a highly anticipated decision, Protz v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Derry Area Sch. Dist.), 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1401 (June 20, 2017), a split Supreme Court of Pennsylvania yesterday held that...
Pennsylvania High Court Strikes Down Use of “Most Recent” AMA Guides Pennsylvania High Court Strikes Down Use of “Most Recent” AMA GuidesWhere an independent medical evaluator concluded that the active range of motion (ROM) measurements she obtained from an injured worker were implausible, indicative of poor effort, and insufficient to verify...
Kentucky IME May Use Clinical Skill and Judgment in Construing AMA Guides Kentucky IME May Use Clinical Skill and Judgment in Construing AMA GuidesIn Matter of Castillo v Brown, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4839 (June 15, 2017), a New York appellate court affirmed the imposition of an $86,000 penalty against a husband and...
Ouch!: Live-in New York Domestic Worker’s Cut Finger Results in $86,000 Penalty To Employing Husband and Wife Ouch!: Live-in New York Domestic Worker’s Cut Finger Results in $86,000 Penalty To Employing Husband and WifeA church volunteer, who contended that she suffered injuries when she tripped and fell over an exposed power cord near or on the altar as she went to help distribute...
New York Church Volunteer’s Personal Injury Action Barred by Exclusive Remedy Rule New York Church Volunteer’s Personal Injury Action Barred by Exclusive Remedy RuleA provision in the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act [W. Va. Code § 23–4–1e(b)] that prohibits an inmate housed at a state work release center from receiving workers’ compensation benefits...
West Virginia Statute Barring Comp Benefits for Many—But Not All—Work Release Inmates is Constitutional West Virginia Statute Barring Comp Benefits for Many—But Not All—Work Release Inmates is ConstitutionalI should have noted this earlier, but anyone still holding his or her breath as to whether Arkansas might pass workers’ compensation opt out legislation during the Legislature’s 2017 session...
Those Holding Their Breath for Arkansas Opt Out Legislation Can Exhale Those Holding Their Breath for Arkansas Opt Out Legislation Can ExhaleWhere a workers’ compensation benefits claimant initially returned to work in a modified-duty position at no loss of wages and subsequently accepted a permanent light-duty position that the employer had...
PA Employer Establishes Worker’s Loss of Earnings Claim by Creating Special Job That Paid Less PA Employer Establishes Worker’s Loss of Earnings Claim by Creating Special Job That Paid Less
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