Quote of the day
"I'm a voyeur -- a voyeur by nature and a researcher by design. I enjoy finding out things."
Ray Polly, a Southern California private investigator of workers' comp fraud, who says the system often works through delay and intimidation
Go to the full story in CBS13 (Sacramento)
Central Valley Restaurant Faces Maximum Fine for Failure to Carry
The owners of Mallard’s Restaurant, which employs about 50 workers in Modesto and 50 in Stockton, face $100,000 in penalties related to a state citation for failure to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Complaints by Stockton employees reportedly trigged the investigation. By Ben van der Meer, Modesto Bee
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Station Looks at Workers’ Comp Investigators
A Sacramento television station looks into how insurers use private investigators to deny claims to purportedly injured workers. By Kurtis Ming, CBS13 (Sacramento) [With Video] Go to the Full Story…
Groups Say Workers’ Comp System Discriminates
The ACLU and AARP are among the groups urging a state appeals court to strike down a portion of California’s workers’ compensation reforms on grounds that they lead to discrimination against older workers and women. The groups are challenging the use of asymptomatic medical conditions, which often accompany aging, to cut benefits. By Steve Lawrence, Contra Costa Times
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North Dakota WSI Exec Asks to Be Reinstated
Workforce Safety and Insurance’s chief of support services, who has been on administrative leave since mid-November while his role in the North Dakota workers’ compensation agency was reevaluated, asks to be reinstated. He is one of five WSI employees seeking whistleblower protection for reporting suspected wrongdoing. KFYR-TV (Bismarck)
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Feds Admit Nuke Workers May Have Been Unfairly Denied Compensation
The Labor Department, which oversees the compensation program for Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers, reopens the cases of 427 workers who were denied aid because government calculations may wrongly have suggested that their exposures to radiation were not sufficient to cause their cancers. Ill workers with certain cancers are eligible for $150,000 and medical coverage. By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
‘Baby Step’ Irks Buckeye State Small Businesses
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation cuts the maximum group discountas its first step in correcting huge differences in rates, but the cut—from a 90 percent cap to 85 percent—does not satisfy small business owners who say they are fed up with a system where sudden rate changes threaten their businesses. By Mark Rollenhagen, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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