Issue Commentary: COVID-19 Claims in States Without Presumptions

NY COVID-19 Death Benefits Claim Fails

NY Claimant Wins COVID-19 Claim Without Aid of Presumption of Compensability

Catch 22 Prevents Florida Officer From Utilizing Presumption of Compensability

A Florida appellate court affirmed a decision by a judge of compensation claims that found a law enforcement officer was not entitled to the special presumption of compensability related to...

407-Page IME Report Insufficient to Rebut Hawai'i's Presumption of Compensability

Two months ago, I posited that a decision in an old influenza case from Hawaii might give us some indication as to how a COVID-19 presumption of compensability might operate...

Opinion Mondays: 30 Days into California's COVID-19 Executive Order, Questions Abound

As the nation moves, with fits and starts, toward some sort of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, many within the workers’ compensation system are still trying to digest significant changes...

Opinion Mondays: While We’re Adjusting Our COVID-19 Masks, Is the Grand Bargain Being Altered?

In a document published in February, the Congressional Research Service observed: “Workers’ compensation has been called a grand bargain between employers and workers … [under which] workers receive guaranteed, no-fault...

Opinion Mondays: Old Influenza Case From Hawaii Shows How COVID-19 Presumptions Might Work

In recent weeks, as multiple states have established presumptions of compensability favoring some workers who contract the coronavirus/COVID-19, many within the workers’ compensation community have pondered just how these presumptions...

Florida Court Says Cardiac Presumption Favoring Corrections Officer Was Rebutted

In a case that provides guidance for employers and carriers who seek to rebut the special presumption of compensability provided to firefighters and certain other “covered officers” (including corrections officers)...

Opinion Mondays: Later Today, IL Comm'n Will Say "Ooops" as to its Presumption of Compensability

Governor and Legislators Might Profit From Reading PA’s Protz Decision The controversial “rule change” put in place two weeks ago by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, which purports to create...

LHWCA: Ninth Circuit Agrees that Injury Was Caused By Intoxication, Not Concrete and Metal Slab Onto Which Claimant Fell

Under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”), no compensation is payable “if the injury was occasioned solely by the intoxication of the employee” [see 33 U.S.C. § 903(c)]....