Quote of the day
"How can they turn down his case? This is what I don't understand."
Simi Valley resident Kay Burnside, a former Rocketdyne employee, about her claim with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program for skin cancer she contends is work-related
Former Defense Workers’ Cancer Claims Mired in Red Tape
In Ventura County, many cancer-stricken former Rocketdyne employees who are seeking compensation through the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program have had their claims denied, often because they did not work in a certain place or program. Of nearly 500 field laboratory-related claims in the program, which is intended to compensate sick nuclear defense workers who were exposed to radiation and toxic chemicals as Department of Energy employees or as workers for subcontractors, only 57 have been approved. By Teresa Rochester, Ventura County Star
Go to the Full Story…
Survey’s Rosy Numbers Have a Flipside
A recent survey ordered by the California Legislature to gauge 1,001 injured workers’ access to medical care in the overhauled workers’ compensation system concluded that most injured workers received quick, competent medical treatment and got back on the job within three days. While the results indicate a “high degree of injured worker satisfaction,” according to lead investigator Gerald Kominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the generally upbeat report also has a downside. By Mark Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
Go to the Full Story…
State Fund Has New Digs
State Fund’s San Francisco District Office is relocating to Pleasanton and will be known as Bay Area Policy Services. Effective this week, it has new contact info. Workers’ Comp Executive
Go to the Full Story…
Bloomberg Asks Congress for Sept. 11 Compensation
On the eve of his expected testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asks lawmakers to fund treatment for World Trade Center-related illnesses and to open a victim compensation fund. Bloomberg’s report calls on the federal government to defray $150 million in medical programs annually and to create a $1 billion compensation fund. New York Sun
Go to the Full Story…
Judgment Filed Against Bugle Corps with No Paid Workers
Apparently, the New York Workers’ Compensation Board had no idea that the Syracuse Brigadiers, a drum and bugle corps that shut down its bingo hall and stopped paying staff after losing its gambling licenses in 2004, no longer needed to carry workers’ compensation insurance. The board filed an $11,750 judgment against the Brigadiers last month for failing to carry workers’ comp insurance. By John Mariani, Syracuse Post-Standard
Go to the Full Story…
Upstate Employers Weigh In on Reform
Businesses in upstate New York react to the recently-passed overhaul of the beleaguered state workers’ compensation system. Under the new law, workers’ benefits, maximum weekly benefits of $400 will rise to $600 in three years and then to two-thirds of the average state wage, while insurance premiums for employers will fall by 10 percent to 15 percent, among other reforms. By Mary Chao, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Vermont Bill Targeting State Employees Passes
Legislators in Vermont pass a bill that addresses workers’ compensation for certain employees of the Bennington state office complex. Six current or former state employees who worked in the building have reported that they have been diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disease that normally occurs at a rate of one in 10,000 people. The law would presume that workers in the building who are diagnosed with sarcoidosis contracted it at work. By Neal Goswami, Bennington Banner
Go to the Full Story…
Bakery Worker Seeks Bread for Retaliatory Sacking
An erstwhile employee of a Huntington, W.V., bakery sues his former employer, claiming it fired him in February 2006 after he fell on the job and filed a workers’ compensation claim. The suit seeks punitive damages. By Cara Bailey, West Virginia Record
Go to the Full Story…
Third Time’s a Charm for Keystone State Worker
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declines to hear an appeal by the employer in the case of a former worker who suffered hand and arm injuries in a 2000 industrial accident, marking the third time an appeals court has upheld the decision of a worker’s compensation judge that the worker can continue to receive disability benefits. By Joe Pinchot, Sharon Herald
Go to the Full Story…