The Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council has released its Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report (PDF link). This report contains some eyebrow-raising statistics. Between 2008 and 2014, Massachusetts was able to help over 50,000 workers' receive coverage due to Stop Work Orders (SWOs). In 2014 alone the Agency was able to obtain insurance for over 5,000 workers' [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Catherine Stanton, from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano.As an attorney who practices in the field of Workers’ Compensation, there are some events that are seminal in the history of workplace safety. One of those events was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred on March 25, 2011. [...]
A bill attempting to address North Carolina’s crisis of employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors passed through the Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 694 creates an “Employee Classification Division” within the Office of State Budget and Management which is tasked solely with the responsibility to oversee and enforce proper classification of employees. The tasks [...]
Professional hockey, much like football, is considered to be a dangerous, high contact sport. With recent news of San Francisco 49er’s linebacker Chris Borland’s decision to retire at age 24 due to concussions, a lot of NHL players are feeling pressure to step-back and reevaluate if game-related concussions are worth the risk to their long-term [...]
Many decades ago, OSHA created workplace safety standards to help employees avoid injuries from dangerous working conditions. Despite these standards, each year more than 3 million workers' are seriously injured or killed while on the job. Because Workers’ Compensation fails to cover all the costs of injury, some low-wage workers' (who have a disproportionate rate [...]
Detroit Red Wings forward Drew MillerOriginal Article here: https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article17954633.html Hockey players, while focusing on speed and precision, must simultaneously be aware of the ever-present threat posed by the sharp blades attached to the bottom of their ice skates. While fans watch the players skate so effortlessly on the ice, they sometimes fail to realize that [...]
The News & Observer recently published an article exposing the under-reporting of workplace deaths by the North Carolina State Department of Labor. The Department reported only 23 deaths for 2013 and for 2014, the Department reported 44 deaths. However, even 44 deaths is significantly less than the 243 workplace deaths reported by the Department in [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Thomas Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.While Facebook is extremely popular and used by over a billion people every day, no Facebook posting has ever helped an injured worker in a workers'’ compensation claim. On the contrary, use of a Facebook page poses real dangers for injured workers' pursuing [...]
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey 1991 - 2014 (Credit: Sisi Wei/ProPublica) Today's post comes from guest author Rod Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.Business and insurance interests are bombarding state legislatures every day of the week to take workers'’ rights away by complaining how most states’ workers'’ compensation systems are too expensive. [...]