Former employee sues Iowa school district for discrimination
A former employee of Sioux City, Iowa-area school district says in a lawsuit that the district expected him to continue working while he recovered from serious shoulder injuries and later eliminated his position and fired him for filing workers’ compensation claims. The employee was hired as the district’s transportation director in 2004, and injured his shoulder in 2018 while helping a student board a school bus. Sioux City Journal
Bill to cover Virginia first responders awaiting governor’s signature
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s signature is all that’s needed to make the state’s firemen, law enforcement and EMS providers, who contract COVID-19 and become sick, eligible for workers’ compensation. A state lawmaker’s news release said Fairfax Fire and Rescue had more than 126 positive COVID-19 cases, but only 14 of those have had state-funded workers’ compensation. WTOP (Washington, D.C.)
Missouri city denies workers’ comp to officer who died of COVID
Missouri Employers Mutual reportedly has denied benefits to the family of a Lebanon policeman who died last year after contracting COVID-19. The insurer determined the officer’s COVID-19 exposure and subsequent death did not meet qualifications for workers’ comp. KY3
Florida building contractor sentenced for fraud
A Jacksonville, Florida building contractor has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and to defraud the United States, and illegally reentering the U.S. after previously being deported. According to court documents, he operated a construction contracting business that partially paid employees “off the books” and defrauded his company’s workers’ compensation insurer and payroll management vendors. Jacksonville Daily Record & Observer