Quote of the day
"Not being honest on payroll has become almost an accepted practice in New York State."
Art Wilcox, workers' compensation expert, New York State AFL-CIO
State Fund Offers Credit Extension Due to Central Valley Freeze
State Compensation Insurance Fund says it will extend credit terms to policyholders who have suffered a financial loss or business disruption due to the mid-January freeze, which devastated much of the Central Valley citrus industry. Central Valley Business Times
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Study: Honest New York Employers Subsidize Scofflaws
A new study by liberal research group Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that employers cheat New York State’s workers’ compensation system out of $500 million to $1 billion annually, forcing other employers to pony up higher premiums. By Steven Greenhouse, New York Times
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Comp Fraud Arrests Up in Empire State
The New York Insurance Fund reports making 148 total arrests for workers’ compensation fraud in 2006, up from 126 in 2005, in its self-proclaimed most successful anti-fraud campaign. The arrests involved claimants, policyholders and medical providers and accounted for restitution, additional billed premium and estimated future savings of $17 million. Business First of Buffalo
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N.Y. Rep Lambastes Bush, Mayors over WTC Worker Treatment
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., contends President Bush deceived the public about environmental conditions in lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says former Mayor Rudy Giuliani failed to protect Ground Zero rescue workers and declares that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration is failing them now as the city is “opposing basically every workers’ compensation claim.” By Michael Saul, New York Daily News via Philadelphia Inquirer
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Another Georgia County Announces Receipt of Dividend Share
Henry County, Ga., announces that it has received a $148,000 premium credit from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia-Group Self-Insurance Workers’ Compensation Fund, the county’s share of a $3 million declared dividend. Henry Daily Herald (McDonough, Ga.)
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‘Borrowed Servant’ Limited to Workers’ Comp
The Texas Court of Appeals has held that an employee of a temporary agency who was classified as a “borrowed servant” entitled to workers’ compensation could not sue a contracting company for negligence arising out of a forklift accident, under the exclusive remedy provision of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act. American Machinist
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PEI Worker’s Deadly Fall Spurs Stop-Work Order
A stop-work order is issued on construction of a new business school at the University of Prince Edward Island after a 53-year-old worker falls to his death Monday. The site will remain closed until the Workers Compensation Board gives clearance. Canadian Press via OHS Canada
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Mountain State Officials Go Door-to-Door with Scofflaw Notices
Investigators with the West Virginia Insurance Commission are posting yellow signs on the doors of Charleston-area businesses that are allegedly operating without workers’ compensation insurance. By George Hohmann, Charleston Daily Mail [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Virginia House Panel Rejects Workers’ Comp Bill
A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee fails to approve a bill that would have made employers, rather than their insurance companies, responsible for the workers’ compensation benefits for illegal workers injured on the job. By Greg Edwards, Richmond Times-Dispatch
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