North Carolina: New Bern pays out more than $1.2M in workers’ comp, lawsuit claims
The city of New Bern, North Carolina’s unsealed closed session minutes showed city leadership and staff were involved in more than a million dollars being paid out in workers’ compensation and lawsuit settlements. Several of the claims are said to be covered by the city’s insurance, while others may not. Sun Journal (New Bern, N.C.)
The Hartford, Yale School of Medicine partner on addiction, pain management training program
The Hartford is collaborating with Yale School of Medicine to develop a pilot program that will teach healthcare employees how to navigate and respond to addiction and chronic pain in their treatment of injured employees. The first phase of the pilot, already underway, includes the development of training modules and a compendium of clinically relevant resources. In phase two, scheduled to begin in January, between 50 and 100 Connecticut medical professionals will undergo the training and apply it to their own practices, and in phase three the modules will be updated based on their feedback. Hartford Business
Lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims expected to rise down under
In Australia since the pandemic began there have been around 3,000 COVID-19 related workers’ compensation claims, according to data from state and territory agencies. Workers’ compensation claims are expected to rise as COVID-19 restrictions ease and borders reopen, leaving businesses open to being sued by staff if they get sick at work. ABC
Some New Hampshire businesses say new vaccine rules would cause drop in number of employees
Some New Hampshire business owners say they are not anti-vaccine, but that if new federal rules that mandate their employees get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing go into effect, they stand to lose a catastrophic number of employees who either won’t get vaccinated or cannot afford weekly testing. WMUR