News Digest 11-30-2021

 

Flash: Workers’ Comp Assessments Go Sky High

For 2022 California employers will be paying more in workers’ comp surcharges to run the Department of Industrial Relations. How much more? It’s horrifying. Get the details here. Workers’ Comp Executive

 

Minnesota: Cities seek changes to disability pension laws as police quit in droves

Calling the current situation “fiscally unsustainable,” Minnesota cities will seek help from the state in covering costs of the skyrocketing number of policemen retiring due to post-traumatic stress and seeking workers’ compensation. Since August 2020, about 80 percent of disability pension applicants say they can’t do their jobs due to PTSD. Minnesota Reformer

 

Female firefighters to get expanded protection in Manitoba

Manitoba’s finance minister has introduced a bill that would expand the list of illnesses and cancers presumed to be caused by fighting fires to include primary site thyroid cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer and penile cancer. A cancer is considered presumptive of having been caused by firefighting work unless proven otherwise. The original legislation included 14 cancers. Winnipeg Sun

 

Hospitals prepare to lose staff over COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Some hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers are preparing to operate without up to a third of their staff at the start of next year, if those employees don’t comply with a federal mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Around 17 million healthcare employees work at facilities that receive reimbursement from the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Biden administration earlier this month made future reimbursement contingent on all eligible staff getting fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by January 4. Fox Business

 

Will widespread working from home end, at some point?

The virus is still here and many employees are not back in the office, a reality most organizations probably hoped would not be the case this far into the COVID-19 era. People have become used to the pandemic-adjusted structure of their days working from home. What are the implications for employers? NewsNation USA