Quote of the day
"I was staggered. We ran over the figures a number of times. There are not a lot of employees in these high-risk classes, but the impact is huge."
Frank Donovan, University of California Berkley researcher and co-author of the first study to quantify workers' comp payroll reporting fraud in California
Report: Fraudulent Reporting Plagues California Construction Trade
University of California Berkeley researchers find that employers in industries with a high risk of work-related injuries—construction and roofing in particular—may be hiding 75 percent of their payroll, forcing honest employers to pay workers’ compensation rates as much as eight times higher than they would have to pay under a hypothetical fair system. Scofflaws underreported $100 billion in payroll in 2002, and the situation has likely worsened since then.
Go to the full story in the Sacramento Business Journal
Go to the full story by Tom Abate, San Francisco Chronicle
SCIF Plans Cotton Harvest Safety Seminar
Kings and Tulare County Farm Bureaus and State Compensation Insurance Fund will host their annual Cotton Harvest Safety Program on September 26 in Waukena. Workers’ Comp Executive
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Beacon Supported Pro Golf Career of Agent’s Son, Audit Finds
Among the abuses found by state auditors in their report on dominant Rhode Island workers’ compensation insurer Beacon Mutual is that in a three-year span, the agency spent more than $1.1 million on golf-related events including country club memberships, clothes, and far-flung junkets. Beacon even paid $20,000 to support the pro golfing career of the son of a prominent insurance agent who had chaired Beacon’s advisory council of agents. By Mike Stanton, Providence Journal
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Construction Execs Fret About Dismal Texas Workplace Death Stats
Texas was the deadliest state for workers last year, and 2007 is not shaping up any better: the San Antonio/Austin region is on pace to see the most workplace fatalities in five years. Latino workers represented 50 percent of the deaths in the region, according to the Texas Department of Insurance Workers Compensation Division. By Aissatou Sidime, San Antonio Express-News
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Man Sues Car Dealership for Illegal Firing
A Kanawha County, W.V. body shop worker sues a car dealership, contending he lost his job while collecting workers’ compensation for a job-related laceration and contusion. West Virginia Record
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Family Sues Boat Maker for Worker’s Inhalation Death
Family members of a 28-year-old Florida worker who died after inhaling toxic fumes while gluing carpet in the cabin of a yacht are suing the boat manufacturer, contending the company failed to provide a safe working environment. Sarasota Herald Tribune
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IBM Cancer Study Funding Secured, Says Congressman
NIOSH scientists will have funding to undertake with a monumental study of cancer rates among 28,000 New York IBM employees, according to U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. It would be the first comprehensive government study of cancer rates among employees in the circuit board manufacturing industry and is intended to address widespread questions about whether they bore a disproportionately high cancer risk. By Tom Wilber, Ithaca Journal
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