PA Court Finds a 15-Minute Break’s Brevity Outweighs Its Formality The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed an award of workers’ compensation benefits to a pharmacy technician struck by a...
Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid BreakIdaho Federal Court Finds Surveillance and a Full-Duty Release Defeat Workers' Comp Retaliatory Discharge Claim The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho recently granted summary judgment for a...
Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay FieldRisk-Exposure Evidence Alone Can Establish the Causal Link, Justices Hold Last Thursday, In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Muñiz, the Supreme Court of Florida held that a workplace assault...
FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault ClaimsSupervisors Who Allegedly Blocked Exits Fell Outside the Workers’ Comp Act’s Exclusive Remedy The Kentucky Court of Appeals has revived tort claims brought by survivors of the December 2021 tornado...
KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado DeathsABA Workers’ Compensation Midwinter Conference is Ongoing in “Music City” Heavy rain greeted attendees yesterday at this year’s ABA Workers’ Compensation Midwinter Conference in Nashville, but inside the Westin Nashville...
Greetings From Nashville Greetings From NashvilleSpeakers Include Former Head of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The 34th Annual Issues and Research Conference, sponsored by Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), promises to be an outstanding forum...
WCRI’s Upcoming Annual Conference Looks Like a Winner WCRI’s Upcoming Annual Conference Looks Like a WinnerFrom Comp Standpoint: Are Uber, Lyft & Grubhub Truly “Disruptive?” Lamenting that in California, a worker’s status as an employee, vis-a-vis an independent contractor, is an “all-or-nothing proposition,” a U.S....
California Grubhub Driver is Independent Contractor, Not Employee California Grubhub Driver is Independent Contractor, Not EmployeeTemporary Employee Has Option of Claiming Benefits or Suing in Tort Based, at least in part, on the court’s so-called “literal” reading of a Wisconsin statute [Wis. Stat. § 102.29(6)(b)1.], the...
The Road Less Traveled: Wisconsin Court of Appeals Shuns Majority Rule Re: Borrowing Employer’s Tort Immunity The Road Less Traveled: Wisconsin Court of Appeals Shuns Majority Rule Re: Borrowing Employer’s Tort ImmunityRecent Air Ambulance Decisions Hint that McCarran-Ferguson Insurance Barrier to Federal Involvement in Workers’ Comp May Be Decaying Two recent court decisions, one from Texas [PHI Air Med., LLC v....
Is the Wall Strong Enough? Is the Wall Strong Enough?Employer-Controlled Medical Care Drives Claimants to Attorneys, Erasing Savings in Medical Costs A common mantra from the employer-carrier side of the workers’ compensation world goes something like this, “If you...
New Study Says Employer-Directed Choice of MD May Actually Increase Overall Claim Costs New Study Says Employer-Directed Choice of MD May Actually Increase Overall Claim CostsAnnual “Bizarre” List Began 30 Years Ago Continuing a New Year’s tradition that informally began 30 years ago, when my mentor, Dr. Arthur Larson, original author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation...
The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2017 The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2017A worker, who sustained severe injuries, including a left-hand amputation and major depressive disorder, while performing routine maintenance on the employer’s conveyor belt system, is not entitled to additional compensation...
Ohio Commission Erred in Assessing Penalties Against Employer for Safety Violations Ohio Commission Erred in Assessing Penalties Against Employer for Safety ViolationsIn what some may view as insult added to injury, an unemployed New Jersey firefighter, who sustained significant injuries to her leg when she slipped and fell on ice as...
Unemployed Volunteer Firefighter Denied TD Benefits Unemployed Volunteer Firefighter Denied TD BenefitsYesterday, in an eagerly awaited decision, Vitale v. Schering-Plough Corp., Case No. A-20-16 (Dec. 11, 2017), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a disclaimer in an employment agreement...
NJ High Court Strikes Down Employment Contract Clauses Waiving Third-Party Claims NJ High Court Strikes Down Employment Contract Clauses Waiving Third-Party ClaimsVirginia Employer Need Not Provide Specialized “Running Blade” Prosthesis While all but a few American jurisdictions require employers to provide medical benefits that are essentially unlimited in terms of duration...
Medical Benefits Must be “Reasonable and Necessary”—Not Just Beneficial Medical Benefits Must be “Reasonable and Necessary”—Not Just BeneficialThe Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err when it found that a state trooper’s PTSD did not arise out of and in the course of his employment [Hess v....
Virginia Court Reiterates Objective Standard For PTSD Claims Virginia Court Reiterates Objective Standard For PTSD Claims
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