Quote of the day
"We need this money. They just don't get it."
Marvin Bethea, hospital paramedic who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers and helped with the rescue effort, about federal financial assistance to sick recovery workers
Judge Makes Example Out of Houston Crane Boss
A Houston executive of United Crane Inc. bilked Austin-based Texas Mutual Insurance Co. out of millions of dollars in workers’ compensation premiums by underreporting by tens of millions of dollars the payroll value of several companies in his control, a jury rules. Gary Quintinsky now owes Texas Mutual $8.2 million, which includes $2.5 million in exemplary damages. Houston Business Journal
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New York City Report: WTC Annual Illness Tab $393 Million
A report released Tuesday by a panel that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg convened last year to study Sept. 11 health effects and treatment programs concludes that respiratory ailments, mental trauma and other health problems that arose in the aftermath of the terrorist attack are costing the U.S. health care system $393 million annually. Bloomberg says the federal government should pick up at least $150 million of the annual tab.
Go to the full story by Sara Kugler, Newsday
Go to the full story by Emi Endo, Newsday via AM New York
Go to the full story in NY1 [With Video] Go to commentary in New York Daily News
Missouri Supremes Draw Lines in Workplace Injury Cases
Several current cases on the Missouri Supreme Court docket show that the court is clarifying the boundary between civil and workers’ compensation cases in workplace injury lawsuits. By Rob Luke, Legal Newsline (Chicago)
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Spitzer: Factions Working ‘Feverishly’ on Deal
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer declines to predict when the long-awaited overhaul of the Empire State’s high-cost, low-payout workers’ compensation system could be completed, but he says labor, business and government leaders have been working “feverishly” on it. Spitzer says any deal would include a cap on the duration of weekly benefits. By Jay Gallagher, Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.)
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Pilot Errors Caused Kauai Copter Crashes: NTSB
Inexperienced pilots’ errors in hazardous weather conditions caused two helicopter crashes nearly a year apart in 2004 and 2005 on Kauai, killing eight people, the National Transportation Safety Board reports. The lawyer for one tour operator contends it had no workers’ compensation injuries in more than a decade. By Tom Finnegan, Honolulu Star-Bulletin [With Photos] Go to the Full Story…
Insurer Sues Gas Firm over Propane Fire
A firm that insured Ogdensburg, N.J. and its volunteer firefighter who died of a heart attack while fighting a 2005 propane fire at a trailer park sues the gas company to recoup survivor benefits and medical and funeral costs. By Jim Lockwood, Newark Star-Ledger
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Safety Issues Spur Slaughterhouse Workers to Unionize
For years, the 3,100 workers at Tyson Foods Holcomb plant, which has an 80 percent Latino workforce, have accepted injuries as a risk of working in one of the nation’s most hazardous occupations, but now they are seizing upon those injuries to buck a trend of low union participation that grew as the nation’s meatpacking industry consolidated and drew more immigrant labor. By Roxana Hegeman, AP via Forbes
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