A New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state's Workers' Compensation Board that denied death benefits to a widow whose husband, a former correction officer, died in 2016,...
NY Widow's Death Benefits Claim Filed 12 Years After Work Cessation Not Supported By Medical Evidence NY Widow's Death Benefits Claim Filed 12 Years After Work Cessation Not Supported By Medical EvidenceAffirming a decision of a split panel of the state’s Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Kansas sustained an award of death benefits to the widow of a worker...
Kansas Widow Rebuts Presumption of Marijuana Intoxication Kansas Widow Rebuts Presumption of Marijuana IntoxicationConstruing Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-204(d)(5), pursuant to which a presumption of correctness is afforded to the impairment rating provided by an independent medical evaluator who has been selected from...
TN Appeals Panel Clarifies Presumption of Correctness Afforded to MIR Physician's Impairment Rating TN Appeals Panel Clarifies Presumption of Correctness Afforded to MIR Physician's Impairment RatingRecently, I had an occasion to spar with a young reporter who was gathering background information on a COVID-19 piece that she’s preparing. She’s only been in the legal news...
Opinion Mondays: COVID-19 Presumptions Don't Stand Alone in the Workers' Comp World Opinion Mondays: COVID-19 Presumptions Don't Stand Alone in the Workers' Comp WorldTwo 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...
407-Page IME Report Insufficient to Rebut Hawai'i's Presumption of Compensability 407-Page IME Report Insufficient to Rebut Hawai'i's Presumption of CompensabilityIn a decision that illustrates the difficulty that many employers will face if their state has adopted a presumption of compensability in COVID-19 cases, the District of Columbia Court of...
Opinion Mondays: D.C. Stroke Case Shows Fighting COVID-19 Presumptions is Going to Be Up-Hill Battle Opinion Mondays: D.C. Stroke Case Shows Fighting COVID-19 Presumptions is Going to Be Up-Hill BattleAs 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: 30 Days into California's COVID-19 Executive Order, Questions Abound Opinion Mondays: 30 Days into California's COVID-19 Executive Order, Questions AboundIn 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: While We’re Adjusting Our COVID-19 Masks, Is the Grand Bargain Being Altered? Opinion Mondays: While We’re Adjusting Our COVID-19 Masks, Is the Grand Bargain Being Altered?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...
Opinion Mondays: Old Influenza Case From Hawaii Shows How COVID-19 Presumptions Might Work Opinion Mondays: Old Influenza Case From Hawaii Shows How COVID-19 Presumptions Might WorkIn 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)...
Florida Court Says Cardiac Presumption Favoring Corrections Officer Was Rebutted Florida Court Says Cardiac Presumption Favoring Corrections Officer Was RebuttedCOVID-19 Legislation Continues to Follow Discriminatory Practices The workers’ compensation coronavirus legislation recently passed in Wisconsin and Utah continues to follow the predictable pattern of discriminating against many who face...
Opinion Mondays: "The First Shall Be First, and the Last Shall Remain Last" Opinion Mondays: "The First Shall Be First, and the Last Shall Remain Last"Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of state governors (e.g., California, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Dakota) have issued executive orders promising extended workers’ compensation benefits and, in...
Opinion Mondays: State Governors Have Pens, Who Needs Legislatures? Opinion Mondays: State Governors Have Pens, Who Needs Legislatures?