Quote of the day
"Lack of reliable information on numbers of contractors and cost of [Defense Base Act] insurance restricts the ability of agencies to make informed decisions on purchasing strategies for DBA."
Government Accountability Office report, on the workers' compensation insurance U.S. employers are required to purchase for employers in war zones
Garden State Lawmakers Mull Workers’ Comp in Response to Series
The New Jersey Legislature returns with a slate of more than a dozen committees taking on issues that include workers’ compensation. The Senate Labor Committee is holding a special hearing on workers’ comp after a Star-Ledger series that found bureaucratic delays, politics and poor state oversight plaguing injured workers. Officials call the system stable, but admit that it needs improvement. By Matthew Reilly, Newark Star-Ledger [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…
Will Ohio BWC Have to Reopen Old Claims?
As the result of a state high court decision, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is trying to determine whether it will have to re-open thousands of previously settled workers’ comp claims. The BWC has a new policy prohibiting destruction of any records related to the settling of a claim. By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP via Akron Beacon Journal
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Family Files $5M Suit in Wastewater Worker’s ATV Crash
The surviving family of a wastewater worker, who died after colliding with a steel cable stretched across an access road leading to a mountain resort’s sewage lagoons as he operated an all-terrain vehicle, file a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against Bonner County, Idaho, and a highway district. By Keith Kinnaird, Bonner County Daily Bee
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Contractors: The ‘Dogs of War’?
Life in Iraq for private military contractors is dangerous. And while U.S. employers must provide limited insurance to all employees in war zones under the Defense Base Act, in reality, getting benefits out of insurers may be harder than it is for former servicemen and women to get what they are entitled to from the Department of Veterans Affairs. By David Isenberg, Middle East Times
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Play Based on Landmark Workers’ Comp Case
A play currently running in Baltimore, “These Shining Lives,” is based on a landmark workers’ compensation case filed by employees of the Radium Dial Co. in the 1930s. Is it any good? By Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun
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Colorado Dry Cleaner a Workers’ Comp Carrier’s Dream
Laura Smith, owner of All-Star Cleaning Services in Fort Collins, she’s never filed a workers’ comp claim in the two and a half years she’s owned her business, even though the cleaning industry is full of injuries. According to the Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation, work-related injuries are on the decline. By Cari Merrill, Coloradan
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