Quote of the day
"Someone with my attitude would never get the support of the board of directors." Heidi Heitkamp, former North Dakota attorney general and tax commissioner, saying that she is not interested in the top job at Workforce Safety and Insurance
Sacramento Youth Prison Counselor Faces Fraud Charges
Sacramento County prosecutors charge a 32-year-old former counselor at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione with defrauding the state of more than $150,000 in workers’ compensation benefits by allegedly falsely telling state prison officials that he could no longer work after he was injured by an inmate in 2005. Each of the six felony charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Go to the full story by AP via Sacramento Bee [may require registration] Go to the full story by AP via San Jose Mercury News [may require registration]
DOL: Former Nuke Workers Have Received More Than $1 Billion
Only a little more than three years after the inception of the program, the Labor Department has paid more than $1 billion to 8,926 former nuclear workers under Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, the agency announces. The payouts are nearly twice what the Congressional Budget Office projected for fiscal years 2005 through 2008, at the time of the statute’s passage. By Thomas Michalski, Tampa Bay Newspapers
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WSI Shake-Up Claims Three Officials, Including Audit Manager
An internal audit manager who had questioned whether the agency’s board of directors was aware of changes in the handling of injury claims, and whether some benefits were being improperly denied, is one of three officials at North Dakota’s Workforce Safety and Insurance agency to be unceremoniously fired.
Go to the full story by Dale Wetzel, AP via Houston Chronicle
Go to the full story by AP via Dickinson Press
Who Will Be Next Chief of WSI?
A former North Dakota workers’ compensation director and a one-time state House majority leader are among those interested in serving as a temporary chief executive at Workforce Safety and Insurance, agency directors say. By Dale Wetzel, AP via Bismarck Tribune
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GAO Identifies Reasons Behind OWCP’s Funds Mismanagement
The Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs mismanaged $13.3 million in improper payments in 2006, according to a late-February Government Accountability Office report. One reason, according to the GAO, is that the agency relies on unverified, self-reported information from claimants that is not always timely or correct. By Katherine Torres, Occupational Hazards
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P.E.I. Farm Groups Have Reservations About WCB Coverage
Two Price Edward Island farm groups are concerned about plans to cover farm workers and fishing industry workers under the provincial Workers Compensation Board, but they fear their complaints about such issues as mandatory coverage will fall on deaf ears. CBC News
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Ohio Justice Talks Disability Compensation for Asbestos
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer discusses the court’s recent holding of a workers’ compensation case regarding an individual who discovered his pleural disease and asbestosis nearly a decade after his retirement, and his application for permanent total disability compensation. People’s Defender (West Union, Ohio)
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