Quote of the day
"I'm not a teacher handing out grades. But it's hard to see how you can look at this session and give it a passing grade."
New York Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer, about the state legislature's 2006 session
Go to the full story in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
The Workers’ Comp Executive news digest will be on break for two weeks and will resume publishing on Monday July 17.
Amador Man Caught on Tape; Sentenced for Comp Fraud
Video surveillance tapes that revealed a Turlock lumber worker performing activities inconsistent with his claimed shoulder and arm injury, for which he was receiving workers’ compensation benefits, led to his conviction for workers’ comp fraud. Now, pursuant to California’s “Three Strikes” law, he must serve 80 percent of a more than five-year prison sentence. By Carol Harper, Amador Ledger-Dispatch [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Chubb Targets Slip & Falls at Community Banks
Chubb’s new handbook, “Preventing Slip-and-Fall Accidents: A Guide for Community Banks,” is designed to help such businesses evaluate and manage loss prevention programs for slip-and-fall hazards. Workers’ Comp Executive
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Spitzer Blasts State Legislators for Lack of Accomplishments
New York Attorney General and gubernatorial frontrunner Eliot Spitzer gives the 2006 New York legislative session an “F” for its failures and omissions, but declines to outline a specific position on a proposal to cap the amount of time a worker who is partially disabled on the job can get workers’ compensation benefits. By Yancy Roy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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Business Alliance Defends N.Y. Legislators over Backing of Reform
The Rochester Business Alliance defends state lawmakers who have been attacked by organized labor for their proposal to revamp the state workers’ compensation program. By Joseph Spector, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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Study: Fewer Pharmacy Cost-Containment Tools Exist to Control Rising Drug Costs
Public policymakers are considering cost containment measures to bring the costs of prescription drugs used to treat injured workers more in line with similar costs in group health or government insurance programs, according to the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The principal cost-containment tools to control prescription drug costs used in workers’ compensation are fee schedules and generic drug mandates. Forbes
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Contractor Indicted for Illegal Wage-Cutting at Missouri Army Base
The U.S. attorney alleges that an Arkansas contractor unlawfully withheld 10 percent from the wages of workers’ at the U.S. Army’s Fort Leonard Wood for workers’ compensation insurance, while declaring that it had made no deductions. By Marcus Kabel, AP Belleville News-Democrat
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A.M. Best Affirms Hartford Insurance Pool’s Superior Rating
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of A+ (Superior) and the issuer credit ratings of “aa-” of the Hartford Insurance Pool and its members. Workers’ Comp Executive
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Bay Stater Cops to Workers’ Comp Fraud
A 51-year-old Sutton, Mass. man admits to workers’ compensation fraud that netted him nearly $30,000. A private investigator found that he had a job delivering home heating oil while he collected benefits for a purported back injury. By Kevin Keenan, Worcester Telegram
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Auditor General: Wait Times Too Long in NW Territories
The Workers’ Compensation Board for Canada’s Northwest Territories and Nunavut must better serve the region’s workers, says the federal auditor general, who identified communication issues and delays in the decision-making process as major problems. CBC News
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