Quote of the day
"In this case, they [delayed processing claims] to save money, and it cost the life of Dave Potter."
Kelly Fox, Washington State Council of Firefighters president, about the city of Puyallup and its insurer's alleged denial of medical benefits to a firefighter who succumbed to cancer last year.
Amador D.A. to Update Workers’ Comp Fraud Video
The Amador County District Attorney’s office gets the board of supervisors’ okay to update the county’s portion of a statewide information video illustrating the common types of workers’ compensation fraud. The new version will update portions of the law that have changed and will incorporate district attorneys who have been elected since the first video was made. By Judie Marks, Amador Ledger-Dispatch
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Firefighter’s Kin Sues Washington City
The family of a fire battalion chief who died last year at age 52 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma files a wrongful death suit against the city of Puyallup, Wash., which self-insures for worker’s compensation and health insurance. The suit alleges that the city wrongfully denied medical benefits he battled the cancer. By Eijiro Kawada, Tacoma News-Tribune
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Washington’s Rate Break Looms
Combined with an overall 2 percent decrease in workers’ compensation insurance rates, Washington employers and workers will pay about $346 million less in premiums this year than in 2006 due to the six-month rate holiday, during which employers won’t have to pay premiums to the Department of Labor and Industries Medical Aid Fund. By Levi Pulkkinen, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Worker Wins $2 Million in Retaliatory Firing Case
A jury awards nearly $2 million in damages for “aggravation, inconvenience, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of dignity,” to a West Virginia energy company worker claimed he was fired by for reporting safety problems at one of its mines. Jurors reject his claims he also was fired because of his age and because of a workers’ compensation claim he had filed. By AP via Charleston Daily Mail
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Keystone State Chiropractor Faces Fines for ‘Mix-up’
A Wilkes-Barre, Pa. chiropractor who provides services to city employees with workers’ compensation claims faces thousands of dollars in potential fines for failure to renew the license. By Dave Janoski, Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice
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Forklift Op, Fired for Following Comp Doc’s Orders, Wins Jury Award
A New Jersey forklift operator wins a $606,000 jury award in connection with his termination from a box company two months after a 600-pound bale of cardboard fell on his back, causing him two herniated discs. The 39-year-old worker was fired for allegedly violating company policy by taking medication prescribed by the company’s workers’ compensation doctor while operating machinery. By Pete McCarthy, Newark Star-Ledger
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