Quote of the day
"That's the Big Kahuna of penalties.''
Carrie Nevans, acting administrative director of the California Division of Workers' Compensation, about a proposed $25,000 fine if anyone other than a doctor delays or denies treatment to an injured worker in utilization review
DWC Proposes Utilization Review Rules
The California Division of Workers Compensation is proposing rules that would allow it to fine insurers or employers who unreasonably delay or deny treatment for injured workers by abusing utilization review, one of one of many legislative changes that have cut about 60 percent of the cost out of the state’s workers’ comp system since 2004.
Go to the full story by Tom Abate, San Francisco Chronicle
Go to the full story in the Sacramento Business Journal
Sixth District Reverses WCAB on Psychiatric Injury Comp
Reversing the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, California’s Sixth District Court of Appeals rules that a Home Depot employee who was injured in 2001 when lumber fell on him can collect psychiatric injury-related workers’ compensation. By Roberto Ceniceros, Business Insurance
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Israeli Firm Acquires Guard Insurance
Pennsylvania-based Guard Insurance announces that it has been sold to Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, Ltd., of Israel. Full terms of the deal, which will make Guard the first insurance operations of Clal in the U.S., are expected within the next two weeks. Implied terms indicate shareholders and option holders will receive about $135 million. By Tim Gulla, Citizens’ Voice
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Commentary: PPD Cap Will Not Lower New York’s Long-Term Costs
A Rochester union official blasts business group Unshackle Upstate’s call to cap permanent partial disability benefits under New York’s high-cost, low payout workers’ compensation system. By James Bertolone via Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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Worker Advocate Blasts Alberta WCB for Financial Improprieties
An Edmonton advocate for injured workers charges that thousands of dollars have been mismanaged and possibly even stolen within the Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board, and that the board is using the courts to advance arguments that contradict its rulings. By Jeremy Loome, Edmonton Sun
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Firefighters’ Union Tries to Douse Fraud Allegations
The union representing St. John, Newfoundland-area firefighters blasts local officials’ claims that rising numbers of workers’ compensation claims, which so far total about four times as many as last year, are attributable to abuse. CBC News [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Editorial: Make Noe Hand It Over
Disgraced Ohio coin dealer Tom Noe and his family, who probably already have plenty of rainy day money socked away, should not be allowed to keep even a penny of the $13 million that a jury convicted Noe of pilfering from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s rare-coin funds the agency hired him to manage. Wheeling (W.V.) Intelligencer
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Another Sago Mine Family Sues ICG
Relatives of another Sago Mine victim sue International Coal Group and several other companies for negligence, the eighth case that victims’ families have filed against ICG since the underground explosion in early January that killed 12 miners. Among other claims, the lawsuit contends that ICG recklessly caused emotional distress by waiting two hours to correct initial reports that all the miners had survived. By AP via Charleston Daily Mail
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James Hardie Sets Up Trust to Avoid Tax on Asbestos Fund
The structure devised by building products manufacturing giant James Hardie to ensure that its nearly $1.25 billion (USD) asbestos victims’ compensation fund will pay no tax involves a discretionary trust, which will hold the investment earnings of a charitable trust. By Elizabeth Sexton, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
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