In the past few years, a great deal of appropriate attention has been spent pondering various ways in which access to medical care could be improved for injured workers. Various...
National Conference Session Points to Increase Use of Telemedicine for Injured Workers National Conference Session Points to Increase Use of Telemedicine for Injured WorkersMartin Klug’s New Book Provides Important Insight During a famous incident that occurred in Sicily during August 1943, General George S. Patton, in two separate incidents, slapped U.S. Army privates...
Book Review: Does Pop Culture’s PTSD Discussion Give You Combat Fatigue? Book Review: Does Pop Culture’s PTSD Discussion Give You Combat Fatigue?As most of us are aware, OSHA’s final rule regarding, inter alia, anti-retaliation protections within the workplace was published May 12, 2016. Technically effective on August 10, 2016, OSHA delayed...
Ohio Decision Illustrates Conflict Between OSHA’s New Anti-Retaliation Rule and Drug-Free Workplace Policies Ohio Decision Illustrates Conflict Between OSHA’s New Anti-Retaliation Rule and Drug-Free Workplace Policies© Copyright 2016. Thomas A. Robinson. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, contact tom@workcompwriter.com. For the past ten Decembers or so, I have annually compiled what I think are the...
The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2016 The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2016Jane and I are seven days into a 10-day cruise to (and from) the Panama Canal. I’m gloating, of course. While even our native Durham, North Carolina, is currently shivering,...
Shall We Dance—New Book Describes Complex, Psychological Tango Between Physician and Patient Over Opioid Prescriptions Shall We Dance—New Book Describes Complex, Psychological Tango Between Physician and Patient Over Opioid PrescriptionsHigh Courts in Several States Strike Down Legislative Challenges to the Heart of the Workers’ Compensation System As we put together last year’s edition of the Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis...
The Year of Equal Justice and Due Process The Year of Equal Justice and Due ProcessOn October 5, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor released a widely anticipated report on the adequacy of state-based workers’ compensation programs. While the 41-page report does not go as...
Has the Other Shoe Dropped? New Report Signals Feds Are Losing Patience with State Workers’ Compensation Programs Has the Other Shoe Dropped? New Report Signals Feds Are Losing Patience with State Workers’ Compensation ProgramsAppellate Division of Maine’s Comp Board Orders Two Employers to Reimburse Workers for Treatment Costs In two separate decisions, the Appellate Division of Maine’s Workers’ Compensation Board recently affirmed two...
Medical Marijuana: Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment for Pain? Medical Marijuana: Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment for Pain?Earlier today (September 13, 2016), in Vasquez v. Dillard’s, Inc., 2016 OK 89, in a 7–2 decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, in one of the most important workers’ compensation...
Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Opt Out LawDecision Continues Long National Trend to Treat Farm Workers on Par With Other Employees A provision of the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) [N.M. Stat. Ann. § 52–1–6(A) (2015)]...
New Mexico High Court Strikes Down Farm and Ranch Laborer Exclusion New Mexico High Court Strikes Down Farm and Ranch Laborer ExclusionEarlier today (June 9, 2016), a divided Supreme Court of Florida rendered its long-awaited decision in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg [No. SC13–1976], striking down as unconstitutional the state’s...
Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD Benefits Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD BenefitsA recent federal district court decision from Oregon, Kwiecinski v. Medi-Tech International Corp., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72453 (D. Or., June 3, 2016), provides an important practice point not only...
Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another State Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another State