Quote of the day
"It is an outrage that six of the advisory board members decided to believe the faulty, insufficient and incomplete data NIOSH uncovered over workers' experiences of what actually happened at that plant. These workers told the truth behind those faulty numbers and they were ignored."
United Steelworkers Union official Terry Bonds, about a federal advisory panel's refusal to expedite workers' comp claims filed by sick former nuclear weapons workers.
Oregon Senate Approves Workers’ Comp for Home Care Workers
The Oregon Senate votes 23-6 to require workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers. About 10,500 such workers would get the automatic coverage under House Bill 3362-A. By Steve Law, Salem Statesman Journal
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Panel’s Decision on Sick Nuke Workers Outrages Union
After the federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health rejects the plea of 3,000 sick and cancer-stricken former nuclear workers at Colorado’s Rocky Flats weapons plant to expedite health claims of $150,000 for radiation exposure, the United Steelworkers Union vows more appeals to Congress. “Our union is prepared to get justice for these nuclear workers who sacrificed their lives for our national security,” vows USW President Leo Gerard. By Katherine Torres, Occupational Hazards
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Former Maryland AG New Asst. VP of Injured Workers’ Fund
Though he sought the chief executive officer position, former Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., will have to settle for being named assistant vice president of the Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund, the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer. By Will Skowronski, Baltimore Business Journal
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Employers Confront the Heavy Burdens of Obese Employees
A study published by Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., finds that obese employees had more than twice the number of workers compensation claims than other workers, and their medical costs were seven times higher. Moreover, such employees were absent from work for 13 times the number of days of non-obese workers. By Joyce Gioia-Herman, Colorado Springs Business Journal
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Commentary: Rate Holiday Welcomed in Washington
Robert Malooly is assistant director of Washington Labor and Industries’ Insurance Services Division, which runs the state’s workers’ compensation system, explains the factors behind the six-month partial rate holiday that begins July 1. By Robert Malooly via the Olympian
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Attorney: BWC Had Been Overcharging Former Senator
An attorney for former Ohio State Sen. Jeffry Armbruster contends the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation was merely correcting a mistake when it lowered the rates of a gas station company that the then-senator partially owned. The referral of his case to prosecutors occurs comes in the midst of a broader state investigation into how politics may have steered decisions on workers’ comp premiums for some businesses.
Go to the full story by Mark Rollenhagen, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Go to the full story by Jim Provance, Toledo Blade
Mississippi High Court to Hear Appeal by Robbery Victim’s Family
The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear the appeal of a family of a trucker who was denied workers’ comp after being killed during a robbery after a night of drinking at a Wyoming truck stop. The state Court of Appeals overturned an award by the Mississippi Workers Compensation Commission on grounds that his employment did not require him to visit truck stop bars. By AP via Jackson Clarion-Ledger
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