The Oklahoma legislature adjourned last Friday (May 27, 2016), without resolving a bill that would have amended several troublesome provisions of the state’s controversial Employee Injury Benefit Act (“opt out”...
Oklahoma Legislature Can’t Agree on Opt Out Fix Oklahoma Legislature Can’t Agree on Opt Out FixPart of SSDI’s Fiscal Weakness Tied to Cost Shifting from Workers’ Compensation In an important recent paper, Professor John Burton and his colleague, Steve Guo, argue that significant fiscal improvements...
Does Long-Term Strength of the SSDI Trust Fund Depend Upon Changes to State Workers’ Comp Programs? Does Long-Term Strength of the SSDI Trust Fund Depend Upon Changes to State Workers’ Comp Programs?A bill [S. 2506] introduced on February 4, 2016, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would, if passed into law, appear to invalidate a core provision found in most Texas workers’...
Leahy Bill in U.S. Senate Could Kill Key Provision in Texas Nonsubscriber ERISA Plans Leahy Bill in U.S. Senate Could Kill Key Provision in Texas Nonsubscriber ERISA PlansAs I reported on Wednesday, in Torres v. Seaboard Foods, LLC, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma struck down a provision in the state’s workers’ compensation law that disqualifies a claimant...
Does Torres Signal How OK High Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Opt Out? Does Torres Signal How OK High Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Opt Out?Equal Treatment Under the State’s Dual System is “a Water Mirage” This afternoon (Feb. 26, 2016), in a lengthy Commission Order, the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission found that Sections 203...
Oklahoma Commission Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law Oklahoma Commission Strikes Down State’s Opt Out LawI read with great interest Bob Wilson’s post yesterday signaling that the Tennessee Opt Out “initiative” may be DOA this year. Indeed, I’d been checking Bill Tracking Reports since the...
2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared? 2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared?Original Workers’ Comp Scheme: Equal Treatment of All Injured Employees Within a State In Orwell’s classic allegorical work, Animal Farm, Snowball and Napoleon, recognizing the horrors of the status quo,...
Orwellian Equality: Oklahoma’s Controversial Workers’ Comp Opt Out Legislation Orwellian Equality: Oklahoma’s Controversial Workers’ Comp Opt Out LegislationAnyone familiar with the FedEx, Uber/Lyft litigation going on at various levels in California’s courts and before the state’s administrative agencies knows that the Golden State appears to have “a...
Now California’s Pro Sports Cheerleaders are Employees Now California’s Pro Sports Cheerleaders are EmployeesWith the divorce rate for U.S. marriages hovering at almost 50 percent, courts and legislatures are called upon to weigh two conflicting rules related to workers’ compensation benefits when it...
How One State Bucked Trend of Allowing Former Spouse to Access Post-Divorce Workers’ Comp Benefits How One State Bucked Trend of Allowing Former Spouse to Access Post-Divorce Workers’ Comp BenefitsEarlier today, the Supreme Court of Colorado, affirming a split decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, held that under the plain language of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24–34–402.5, Colorado’s...
Colorado High Court Ok’s Firing of Worker For State-Authorized Use of Medical Marijuana Colorado High Court Ok’s Firing of Worker For State-Authorized Use of Medical MarijuanaEarlier this month, a California appellate court struck down a challenge by two staffing companies that had sued the state, alleging that Cal. Lab. Code § 3701.9, added in 2012...
California Court: Leasing Employers and Temporary Service Employers May Not Self-Insure California Court: Leasing Employers and Temporary Service Employers May Not Self-InsureA bill introduced in the South Carolina Senate on April 16th (2015 Bill Text SC S.B. 674) would make workers’ compensation coverage optional for the vast majority of the state’s...
South Carolina Bill Would Make Workers’ Comp Coverage Optional for Most Employers South Carolina Bill Would Make Workers’ Comp Coverage Optional for Most Employers