Quote of the day
"The recent conviction of Mr. Gasper, who you appointed to the BWC during your tenure as governor and the indictments filed against Mr. Lewis and Mr. O'Neil further erode the public trust."
Ohio state Sen. Mark Dann, a Democrat, in a letter to Republican Sen. George Voinovich, calling on him to give the Ohio inspector general records of commissions and agreements with a broker indicted for allegedly bribing the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation's former CFO
Workplace Violence Predictable, Preventable: Experts
A panel of experts at a seminar sponsored by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training’s Workers’ Compensation Education Unit, which included private employers and state and federal agencies, discuss the warning signs that can be used to predict workplace violence. By Lynn Arditi, Providence Journal via Rocklin & Roseville Today
Go to the Full Story…
Rehab Firm Agrees to Do No More Mountain State Comp Business
A defunct Baltimore rehabilitation firm and its president agree to never again do workers’ compensation business in West Virginia after the firm is fined for mail fraud in U.S. District Court. The corporation admitted that it billed the state Workers’ Compensation Division for services it never provided. By Tom Searls, Charleston Gazette
Go to the Full Story…
Florida CFO Releases Top 10 Fraud List
Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher releases his list of the Top 10 costliest or boldest fraud scams investigated by the department’s Division of Insurance fraud for the fiscal year that ends next week. Tampa Bay Business Journal
Go to the Full Story…
Eleventh Hour Bill Targets New York’s ‘Scaffold Law’
As New York’s legislative session winds down, sponsors introduce what they say is a serious attempt to provide companies with workers’ compensation cost relief and to ease the burdens of the so-called state Scaffold Law. The bill would create a three-tiered limitation on the now open-ended collection of benefits for permanent partial disabilities, while also boosting weekly workers’ comp benefits. The Business Review (Albany)
Go to the Full Story…
Pataki Withdraws Controversial Nominations to WCB
Lame-duck New York Gov. George Pataki unexpectedly scraps plans to appoint two politically well-connected women to what Democrats had complained were longer-than-legal terms on the state Workers Compensation Board. By Mark Humbert, AP via Syracuse Post-Standard
Go to the Full Story…
Unlicensed Contractor Still Working in New York County
New York’s Rockland County has suspended a home improvement contractor’s license, and earlier this year, the contractor’s workers’ compensation insurance was canceled. County officials again cite the contractor for doing a home improvement project in violation of the law, but the contractor say county officials are unfairly singling him out. By Suzan Clarke, Journal News (White Plains – West Nyack, N.Y.)
Go to the Full Story…
Coingate: Senator Says He Won’t Release Financial Records
U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, won’t release records detailing his personal financial dealings with a broker indicted this week for allegedly bribing the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s former chief financial officer, Terrence Gasper, according to a spokesman who also says Voinovich returned a contribution in 1997 to keep the broker from exceeding the state cap on political donations. By Steve Eder and James Drew, Toledo Blade
Go to the Full Story…
Camera Firm Wrongly Exposed on Debtor List, Say New Owners
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on Monday released the names of 57 Ohio employers it said owe more than $10,000 in workers’ compensation premiums. But the account of one firm, Click Camera, is in good standing, according to both the BWC and the firm’s new owner. By Kristin McAllister, Dayton Daily News
Go to the Full Story…