Quote of the day
"We're happy. We'd rather see it be more like 50 [percent] or 60 percent ... but we think we're heading down the right path."
A. Richard Heffron, senior vice president for government affairs, Delaware Chamber of Commerce, about the latest rate cut
Delaware Gov Touts Rate Cut
Delaware Gov. Matthew Denn says that with the new 11.57 percent cut in workers’ compensation premiums that he has ordered, the rates will have dropped 30 percent in a year based on the 17.5 to 22 percent reduction in 2007. The move is expected to save employers $14 million.
Go to the full story by AP via Delmarva Now
Go to the full story by Eric Ruth, News Journal (Wilmington)
North Star State Seeks Workers’ Comp Cure
Good news: Fewer Minnesota workers were hurt on the job in 2006 than at any time over the previous 10 years. Bad news: That same year the state’s workers’ compensation system cost businesses a record $1.7 billion. The current system is no longer cutting it, says the commissioner of the state’s department of labor and industry, and it needs to be changed. By Mike Enright, Alexandria Echo Press [with photo] Go to the Full Story…
New York Asbestos Contractor Charged with Misrepresenting
In Westchester County, N.Y., a 31-year-old asbestos removal contractor is arrested for misrepresenting that his company had valid workers’ compensation insurance. He faces a maximum of seven years in state prison on the main charge.
Go to the full story by Barbara Livingston Nackman, Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.
Go to the full story in the North Country Gazette
Maryland Woman Wins Lyme Disease Claim Against County
Two years into her Lyme disease diagnosis, a Germantown, Md., woman who works for the county parks district wins a workers’ compensation claim against Montgomery County. “I’ve never been in a workmen’s comp case before,” claimant Michele Hamilton said last month while awaiting the judgment. “The thought is that you’re going to get well—they’re going to help you get well. And that’s not the reality.” By Patricia M. Murret, Gaithersburg Gazette
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New York Sheriff’s Deputy Faces Fraud Charges
An 18-year veteran of the Orange County, N.Y. sheriff’s department is accused of making false claims of a work-related injury in order to collect $50,000 worth of workers’ compensation payments. By AP via RNN-TV
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A Look at Workers’ Comp: Co-Ops and Condos
Employers—and, in the case of some co-op and condo boards, corporations that may not employ anyone—pay for workers’ comp insurance, and it’s not the workers who benefit. Why? And are insurance rates in the industry on the way up or are they holding steady? By Greg Olear, Cooperator (New York)
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Commentary: Workplace Violence Takes Different Forms
Sure there are the John Q. Publics who are hell-bent on sending their co-workers to meet their makers, but workplace violence doesn’t just come in the form of your co-worker turning your break room into a shooting gallery. By Kimberly Edds, Orange County Register [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…