Quote of the day
"It's not a simple matter of 'Gee, I'm gonna stop and rest for five minutes.' If it gets bad enough, it does all kinds of crazy things to your body that your body may not recover from ... for months."
Robert F. Perez, Fresno lawyer, who says victims of heat-related illnesses can seem deceptively healthy after treatment
State Fund to Pay Settlement in Heat Death
Two children of a 24-year-old Central Valley farmworker who died last year of heat exhaustion will receive $448 every two weeks until the youngest child reaches 18, according to a settlement to be paid by State Compensation Insurance Fund. According to the United Farm Workers union, the worker became sick after fast-moving field machinery forced him to work too quickly in temperatures of more than 100 degrees. By Shellie Branco, Bakersfield Californian
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Coachella Valley Firms Ride Workers’ Comp Rollercoaster
For Palm Springs-area employers, the rollercoaster ride of workers’ compensation reform has nearly driven some out of business, reduced rates for others, and even provided new opportunities. By Jake Henshaw, Palm Springs Desert Sun
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Onsite Medical Clinics Growing in Popularity
At a time when fewer U.S. workers are covered by employer-supplied group health plans, a counter-trend is emerging among large employers: onsite medical clinics. According to a recent survey, 22 percent of large companies have employee health clinics at or near the workplace, and the number is rising. By Harry Wessel, Orlando Sentinel
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South Carolina Businesses Express Relief at Rate Cap
In South Carolina, where advocates are pushing for workers’ comp reform in the 2007 legislative session, Myrtle Beach small-business owners say they’re relieved a judge capped the workers’ compensation rate increase at 18.4 percent instead of the expected 32.9 percent. The reduction could save businesses as much as $80 million in premiums a year. By Jenny Burns, Myrtle Beach Sun
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Opinion: Injured Workers ‘Whipping Boys’ for Corporate Interests
The legislative co-director of the New York Workers’ Compensation Alliance responds to an Albany Times-Union editorial on workers’ comp reform and the “myth” that that workers’ comp costs New Yorkers jobs. By Troy Rosasco, Albany Times Union
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Three Busted for Workers’ Comp Fraud in Orlando Area
The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud nabs three individuals for allegedly reporting several employees, including one who was killed in a workplace fall, as subcontractors rather than employees to the firm’s workers’ compensation insurer. Orlando Business Journal
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Judge Says Prudential Wrongly Denied Comp to WTC Worker
A federal judge blasts Prudential Insurance for “cherry picking” facts and relying on erroneous information in order to deny disability benefits to a woman whose right forearm was fractured in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. By Carl Campanile, New York Post
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Steel City Siblings Charged with Cashing Dead Father’s Checks
A brother and sister are jailed, accused of bilking the City of Pittsburgh out of nearly $100,000 in workers’ compensation payments by cashing their father’s workers’ compensation checks for eight years following his 1998 death. The arrest is part of an effort to cut the $24.8 million the city spends annually on work-related injuries. By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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