News Digest 8/22/2008

By: Rick Waldinger

Quote of the day

"This is the next frontier in assuring workplaces are safe."

Kate Kahan, director of the work and family program at the Washington-based National Partnership for Women & Families, which lobbies on paid sick leave and other workplace and health care issues

Go to the full story in the Kansas City Star

Twelve States Push Employers to Provide Paid Sick Days
Some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick days, but lawmakers in 12 states, including California, Connecticut, Minnesota and West Virginia, have proposed legislation in the past year that would require businesses to provide them. By Stephen Singer, Kansas City Star
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New Option for Independent N.Y. Agents
The Professional Insurance Agents of New York State announced a new workers’ compensation market option available to its member independent agents throughout the state. Insurance & Financial Advisor
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Aussie Gets Six Months for Comp Fraud
A former transport driver receives six months imprisonment for fraudulently obtaining around $17,000 USD in workers compensation payments related to a workplace assault. Star (Victoria)
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The $3,000 Question in Keystone State
It’s a $3,000 difference of opinion: Clarks Summit, Pa., officials believe South Abington Township owes it $3,000 annually as its portion of workers’ compensation insurance for Clark Summit Borough volunteer firefighters’ services in the township. By Ellen Coyle, Abington Suburban
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Workplace Deaths Fell Last Year
Workplace fatalities fell by 6 percent in 2007, dropping to the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1992, according to a federal report released this week. Workplace deaths involving transportation, which typically account for nearly half of all on-the-job fatalities, fell to 2,234, the lowest number since the government started compiling the numbers, according to the report. By Dan Frosch, New York Times [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…

Workers Triumph Against ‘Vicious’ Nursing Home Boss
In New York, 220 health care workers come off a picket line outside the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center Thursday, six months after they went on strike to defend their wages and benefits against a greedy, callous boss. By Errol Louis, New York Daily News
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Detroit People Mover Employees Sue City
Two former Detroit People Mover employees, including its former maintenance director, sue the city of Detroit in federal court, alleging they were retaliated against for complaining that maintenance on the downtown elevated train was unacceptable and unsafe. By Paul Egan, Detroit News
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