Quote of the day
"[The court has] obviously read the statute and understood our concerns that the law was being applied by Workers' Comp and BrickStreet in a way absolutely contrary to what state law said."
John Skaggs, West Virginia attorney for widows of workplace accident victims who are suing to receive lifetime benefits
Editorial: Audit an Embarrassment to Washington Dept. of L&I
Officials with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, which inspects workplaces and administers the state’s workers’ compensation system, dispute findings of a recent state audit that the agency paid more than $600,000 in pension benefits to dead or otherwise ineligible claimants and lost more than $180,000 in equipment. The agency’s Workers’ Compensation Program is targeted for a performance review sometime later this year. Yakima Herald-Republic
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Mountain State Widows Sue for Lifetime Benefits
In West Virginia, attorneys for widows whose husbands died in workplace accidents or from workplace diseases like asbestosis petition the state supreme court to formally rule on whether they should receive lifetime benefits after their husbands die. Last month, Gov. Joe Manchin told the insurance commissioner to restore lifetime benefits to widows that BrickStreet, the state’s private workers’ comp insurer, was taking away once their deceased spouses would have retired. By Paul J. Nyden, Charleston Gazette
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Ohio BWC Scandal: Noe Probe Has Ties to Spain
In Spain, authorities investigating an alleged pyramid scheme raid the Madrid offices of a publicly-traded company in which indicted Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe invested more than $10.7 million in Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s funds. Meanwhile, Noe’s request for a hearing to change his plea on charges that he illegally funneled money into the reelection campaign of President Bush does not affect the state’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation case. By Joshua Boak, Toledo Blade
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Arkansas WCC Ordered to Rehear Case
The Arkansas Court of Appeals orders the state Workers’ Compensation Commission to rehear a case involving a state university custodian who was injured when she fell down stairs in 2002, saying dates and other information used by the administrative law judge to make the decision were incorrect. Arkansas News Bureau
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Will Province’s WCB Have to Raise Rates?
If Saskatchewan’s 4.3 percent workplace injury rate doesn’t average around 4 percent for the year, the province’s Workers’ Compensation Board may have to raise premiums after having cut them for two straight years. What is the solution? Regina Leader-Post
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Criminal Charges Filed in NYC Worker’s Fatal Fall
The owners of a New York City construction company are criminally charged with causing the death of an immigrant worker who plunged 60 feet to his death from a scaffold last June. The firm’s owners—one of whom is believed to be in Pakistan—received 20 Fed-OSHA safety violations in 2004 and 2005 for failing to provide workers with fall protection at two work sites, but never settled the violations and ignored the penalties. New York Daily News
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AIG Shares Tumble on Foreign Life Insurance Earnings Miss
Shares of American International Group Inc. head for their biggest plunge in more than a year after the world’s largest insurer reports that earnings from overseas life insurance units missed analysts’ estimates for a second quarter. The company in February agreed to pay $1.64 billion to settle allegations that, among other misdeeds, it shortchanged state workers compensation programs. Bloomberg
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Commentary: Businesses Need Thank Hawaii Legislature for Nothing
Despite Hawaii being named one of the worst states in which to do business for several straight years, the state legislature recently adjourned without passing workers’ compensation reform or other tax relief for small businesses. By State Sen. Sam Slom, Hawaii Reporter
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