Quote of the day
"This behavior continually occurred over a two-month period, and claimant felt that he had no recourse."
Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Jon W. Thompson, writing for a three-judge panel that approved an award of workers' comp to a cook who was injured in an altercation with a supervisor who allegedly harassed him
Arizona Court Allows Workers’ Comp Award for Fight Injuries
Using a “friction and strain” of employment rationale, a three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals rules that a stir-fry cook can collect workers’ compensation for injuries he suffered in a fight with a supervisor he accused of harassing him. The cook testified that before his supervisor pushed him to the ground, he had confronted the supervisor for mimicking the way he spoke. By Paul Davenport, AP via Arizona Daily Star (Tucscon)
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Evergreen State’s Rate Holiday May End with Dose of Reality
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries, which earlier this year enacted a partial rate holiday, is proposing to raise 2008 workers’ compensation rates by 3.2 percent, with average premiums rising more than 2 cents per hour worked. Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
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Judge: Beacon Can Begin Paying Rhode Island Policyholders
A decision by a Rhode Island Superior Court judge clears the way for Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., the state’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer, to begin making payments of millions of dollars in administrative penalties to the state and repayments to thousands of policyholders under its settlement with state business regulators. Portland Business Journal [With Photos] Go to the Full Story…
Money Manager Hid Firings, Buckeye State Prosecutors Contend
Prosecutors say a Pittsburgh money manager indicted in the loss of $215 million in Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation investment funds concealed the circumstances of his earlier departure from two bank jobs. By AP via WDTN-TV (Dayton)
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Educational Program Reaps Big Savings in Ohio County
Columbiana County, Ohio, has saved nearly $51,000 in workers compensation costs so far this year as a result of educational programs to advise workers on avoiding and reporting injuries, according to a new county commissioner who oversees workers’ comp. Youngstown Vindicator
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Little Recourse for Miner ‘Stuck in Chair Forever’
A potash miner who had only been working at a Saskatoon-area mine for 14 months before large rocks fell on him, breaking his back and pushing him into a conveyor belt that ripped the skin off his arm, says he cannot sue the mine because he is receiving workers’ compensation. A mine manager recently stated that mine operators knew the mine needed certain safety improvements and was working them at the time of the accident. By Chris Purdy, Saskatoon StarPhoenix [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…