Note to our subscribers: Workers’ Comp Executive is taking its annual summer break from July 5-16. We will resume publication July 19.
St. Louis mayor looking into denial of EMT’s workers’ comp claim
A St. Louis emergency medical technician’s COVID-related workers’ compensation claim was denied, but the city’s mayor may get involved. The EMT says she spent a month in a coma, and three months in the hospital on and off a ventilator and cannot return to work. The denial of her claim came after an emergency rule was put into place by Governor Mike Parson near the start of the pandemic. KSDK [with video]
How unregulated cannabis is threatening West Coast wine growers
Cannabis farms are on the rise in and around many appellations of wine-centric states like California and Oregon, as are concerns in many regional wine communities as lack of regulation creates competition for labor, illegal resource use, and skyrocketing land prices. SevenFiftyDaily
Study finds abuses at Massachusetts residential construction projects
The majority of builders in non-union residential construction in Massachusetts avoid treating their workers as regular employees, relying on “labor brokers” to provide a steady stream of often illegal employees who are frequently paid in cash and have little recourse if they are injured on the job, according to a new report from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center. Boston Globe [may require registration]
New Virginia workers’ comp law covers COVID in healthcare
In Virginia, a new law provides that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of healthcare providers is an occupational disease, and they can be compensated under the Workers’ Compensation Act. News Advance