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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Pierce County, WA Landscaper Charged with Skipping Out on Workers’ Comp Coverage

Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case, from Causey Law Firm.

          A Pierce County, WA landscaper has been charged with failing to pay workers’ compensation insurance after one of his employees was injured on the job.

           Kenneth Ivan Winters, 49, faces one count of doing business without workers’ comp insurance and seven counts of making false reports to the Department of Labor & Industries, according to charging papers. Each charge is a Class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

           The Lakewood man pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday, February 19, 2014 in Pierce County Superior Court. His trial was set for May 1.

           According to charging papers filed by the Washington Attorney General’s office, authorities were alerted to the case when an employee filed an on-the-job injury claim while working for Winters’ business, Executive Lawn Care, in October 2012.

           The worker told an L&I investigator that Winters, who was on site when the employee was hurt, threatened him and his family if he filed a claim with L&I, charging papers said. The employee said he had worked for Winters from 2002 until the day he was injured.

           Winters’ workers’ comp coverage had been revoked eight months earlier for failing to pay premiums. However, charging papers allege, he continued to employ the worker full time until the injury. Winters told an L&I investigator he started the business in 1990, and at one time had up to six employees. He said business slowed and his main employee was the worker who became injured, and occasionally the worker’s brother.

           As of Jan. 7, 2014, the employee’s claim has cost L&I more than $67,000 in medical expenses and lost wage payments, charging papers said.

           Businesses that don’t pay workers’ comp insurance gain an unfair advantage over companies that pay their fair share. A 2007 study found that an estimated 55,000 employers skipped out on paying $34.5 million in workers’ comp insurance in Washington state in 2006, causing legitimate employers to pay higher premiums.

         Washington state is one of the few states in the nation where employers and workers both pay a share of the workers' compensation premiums.  The press release from the Department of Labor and Industries did not indicate whether this worker's payroll deductions had continued even when his workers' compensation coverage had lapsed.  If this was the case, this employer's fraud would represent wage theft, as well.

         

The Risk That Is Just Too Big for Workers' Compensation: Global Warming

Unforseen to the crafters of the workers' compensation system more than a century ago was the factor of global warming and its dire consequences. A risk too big to cover. While workers' compensation was intended to provide coverage for industrially related accidents and injuries, no one envisioned the effects of global warming, ironically industrially precipitated, upon the workplace environment.

Workers compensation was supposed to insure injured workers from all risks in the workplace, both human or "Acts of God," ie. climate related. Weather-related events now top the news. This year weather induced: flooding, drought, Polar Vortex(s) and the next El Nino are capturing the headlines and causing havoc and illnesses and injuries in the workplace.

Today the UN Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) has issued a dire pronouncement. The NY Times reports, "It cited the risk of death or injury on a widespread scale, probable damage to public health, displacement of people and potential mass migrations."

The key risks that follow, all of which are identified with high confidence, span sectors and regions. 

i. Risk of death, injury, ill-health, or disrupted livelihoods in low-lying coastal zones and small island developing states and other small islands, due to storm surges, coastal flooding, and sea-level rise.

ii. Risk of severe ill-health and disrupted livelihoods for large urban populations due to inland flooding in some regions.

iii. Systemic risks due to extreme weather events leading to breakdown of infrastructure networks and critical services such as electricity, water supply, and health and emergency services.

iv. Risk of mortality and morbidity during periods of extreme heat, particularly for vulnerable urban populations and those working outdoors in urban or rural areas.

v. Risk of food insecurity and the breakdown of food systems linked to warming, drought, flooding, and precipitation variability and extremes, particularly for poorer populations in urban and rural settings.

vi. Risk of loss of rural livelihoods and income due to insufficient access to drinking and irrigation water and reduced agricultural productivity, particularly for farmers and pastoralists with minimal capital in semi-arid regions.

vii. Risk of loss of marine and coastal ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem goods, functions, and services they provide for coastal livelihoods, especially for fishing communities in the tropics and the Arctic.

viii. Risk of loss of terrestrial and inland water ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem goods, functions, and services they provide for livelihoods.

A few weather related injuries were not a problem in the past for the beleaguered occupationally related insurance program to handle.However the UN IPCC's prediction of risk and consequences is at an unimaginable magnitude.   The consequences of climate appear to be a risk that is just too big for workers' compensation to handle.
….
Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

 


Sunday, March 30, 2014

College Football Players Get Approval to Unionize - Workers Compensation Next

Today's post is shared from the WSJ.com and highlights a growing trend that student-athletes are employees and will be subject to workers's compensation mandatory insurance coverage. With head concussion recognition on the rise as a long term medical issue in body contact sport this will be a huge incentive to eliminate the business of college body contact sports.
CHICAGO—In a decision with potentially broad ramifications for collegiate athletics, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday that Northwestern University scholarship football players are employees of the school and are eligible to form the nation's first college athletes' union.
The ruling, which Northwestern immediately said it would appeal, has the potential to upend big-time college sports by reversing the NCAA's longtime stance that athletes are students first and athletes second. As such, they can't be considered employees.
In his ruling, Peter Ohr ruled that Northwestern's scholarship players are athletes first and students second. Their duties to the athletic program include 50 to 60 hours a week during training camp and 40 to 50 hours a week during the three- or four-month football season. For much of the year, players are told by coaches when to eat, sleep and train.
Northwestern University football players with athletic scholarships are employees and can unionize, a National Labor Relations Board regional director ruled Wednesday, contradicting the...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]


Related stories:
Jan 31, 2014
It is hard to image that any other Industry that denies its employees workers's compensation benefits for known work-connected injuries would be bragging about a mere 13% reduction in head injuries. That is what the NFL is ...
Feb 05, 2014
It measured head motion changes during more than 1.2 million impacts over five years of Division I NCAA football games played by eight college teams. Sixty-four of those hits resulted in diagnosed concussions, and the ...
Dec 13, 2013
Following a season of grueling practices and hard-fought games, football and ice hockey players who had no outward sign of head trauma showed worrisome changes in brain structure and cognitive performance that weren't ...
Oct 30, 2013
Health experts have some bad news for high school football players: There is no particular type or brand of helmet or mouth guard that will keep you relatively safe from a concussion. The companies that make helmets and ...

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Can a Graduate Student Get Workers’ Compensation?

Attention to laboratory safety generally focuses on preventing injuries. A case at Cornell University, however, raises important issues about what happens after an injury has occurred. 

Chemical engineering graduate student Richard Pampuro suffered permanent, disabling damage to his right hand—and, one supposes, harm to his finances from two operations and extensive physical therapy, and possibly to his long-term earning potential—after glass from a shattered bottle pierced his arm, severing tendons and an artery. Now, Pampuro’s fellow graduate students are demanding that he receive workers’ compensation, reports. The university disagrees, and the New York State Workers' Compensation Board is investigating.

The legal status of students injured in university labs is often unclear. Workers’ compensation laws vary widely among states, as do universities’ policies, The Chronicle notes. At some schools, graduate students qualify for the coverage; at others they do not. 

Beyond that, occupational safety laws that cover employees do not apply to students. When a lathe that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified as lacking required safety features killed Yale University senior physics student in 2011, the agency lacked jurisdiction to sanction the university. (Yale University denied that the lathe was substandard). 

On the other hand, when lab assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji died in 2009 as a...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Proposed Silica Standard Needs to Be Strengthened

Today's post is shred from the algcio.org

While the AFL-CIO “strongly supports” a proposed new rule that would limit workers’ exposure to silica dust, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario outlined several areas that should be strengthened to provide better worker protection from deadly silicosis and other diseases caused by silica exposure.

Testifying before an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hearing, Seminario noted that changes to the current exposure standard—now more than 40 years old—were first proposed in 1997 and that when the proposed new standard was sent for review to the Office of Management and Budget in 1991, it lingered there for two-and-a-half years.

Every day that a final standard is delayed, workers will continue to be at increased risk of disease and death.

Every year some 2 million workers are exposed to silica dust and, according to public health experts, more than 7,000 workers develop silicosis and 200 die each year as a result of this disabling lung disease. Silicosis literally suffocates workers to death. Silica is also linked to deaths from lung cancer, pulmonary and kidney diseases.

Seminario said that permissible exposure limit in the proposed standard while set at half the current level is still too high. She urged that a stricter standard be included in the final and said that other provisions in the standard should be strengthened, including:
Establishing regulated work areas to limit the number of workers.

Related stories:
OSHA continues extensive public engagement on silica proposal ...
Mar 23, 2014
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today began holding public hearings for the notice of proposed rulemaking on occupational exposure to crystalline silica. This marks the beginning of an intensive three ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
OSHA will hold live Web chat on its proposed silica rule - Workers ...
Jan 12, 2014
The Web chat will provide participants the opportunity to ask questions, get clarification from OSHA on the proposed silica rule and learn how to participate in the regulatory process. OSHA staff will be available to clarify the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers' Compensation: Silica exposures in fracking : Over 60 ...
Nov 22, 2013
It is against this backdrop of ongoing exposures of nearly 2 million silica-exposed workers and the serious health effects, that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed a regulation to address ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers' Compensation: American Thoracic Society Welcomes ...
Sep 01, 2013
“The current OSHA standard of for respirable crystalline silica of 0.10 mg/m3 8 hour time weighted average has remained the same for 40 years and has been shown in numerous studies not to be protective.” “We support the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Novel cancer vaccine holds promise against ovarian cancer, mesothelioma

Today's post is shared from the Massachusetts General Hospital and sciencedaily.com.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators report that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumor.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy -- strategies designed to induce the immune system to attack cancer cells -- may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumors.

"Some approaches to creating cancer vaccines begin by extracting a patient's own immune cells, priming them with tumor antigens and returning them to the patient, a process that is complex and expensive," says Mark Poznansky, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center and senior author of the report. "Our study describes a very practical, potentially broadly applicable and low-cost approach that could be used by oncologists everywhere, not just in facilities able to harvest and handle patient's cells.

The MGH team's vaccine stimulates the patient's own dendritic cells, a type of immune cell that monitors an organism's internal environment for the presence of viruses or bacteria, ingests and digests pathogens encountered, and displays antigens from those pathogens on their surface to direct the activity of other immune cells. As noted above, existing cancer vaccines that use dendritic cells require extracting cells from a patient's blood, treating them with an engineered protein or nucleic acid that combines tumor antigens with immune-stimulating molecules, and returning the activated dendritic cells to the patient.

The approach developed by the MGH team starts with the engineered protein, which in this case fuses an antibody fragment targeting a protein called mesothelin -- expressed on the surface of such tumors as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer -- to a protein from the tuberculosis bacteria that stimulates the activity of dendritic and other immune cells. In this system, the dendritic cells are activated and targeted against tumor cells while remaining inside the patient's body.

In the experiments described in the paper, the MGH team confirmed that their mesothelin-targeting fusion protein binds to mesothelin on either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma cells, activates dendritic cells, and enhances the cells' processing and presentation of several different tumor antigens, inducing a number of T-cell-based immune responses. In mouse models of both tumors, treatment with the fusion protein significantly slowed tumor growth and extended survival, probably through the activity of cytotoxic CD8 T cells.

"Many patients with advanced cancers don't have enough functioning immune cells to be harvested to make a vaccine, but our protein can be made in unlimited amounts to work with the immune cells patients have remaining," explains study co-author Jeffrey Gelfand, MD, senior scientist at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center. "We have created a potentially much less expensive approach to making a therapeutic cancer vaccine that, while targeting a single tumor antigen, generates an immune response against multiple antigens. Now if we can combine this with newly-described ways to remove the immune system's "brakes" -- regulatory functions that normally suppress persistent T-cell activity -- the combination could dramatically enhance cancer immunotherapy."

Poznansky adds that the tumors that might be treated with the mesothelin-targeting vaccine -- ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma -- all have poor survival rates. "Immunotherapy is generally nontoxic, so this vaccine has the potential of safely extending survival and reducing the effects of these tumors, possibly even cutting the risk of recurrence. We believe that this approach could ultimately be used to target any type of cancer and are currently investigating an improved targeting approach using personalized antigens." The MGH team just received a two-year grant from the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to continue their research.

Journal Reference:
Jianping Yuan, Satoshi Kashiwagi, Patrick Reeves, Jean Nezivar, Yuan Yang, Nadiah Arrifin, Mai Nguyen, Gilberte Jean-Mary, Xiaoyun Tong, Paramjit Uppal, Svetlana Korochkina, Ben Forbes, Tao Chen, Elda Righi, Roderick Bronson, Huabiao Chen, Sandra Orsulic, Timothy Brauns, Pierre Leblanc, Nathalie Scholler, Glenn Dranoff, Jeffrey Gelfand, Mark C Poznansky. A novel mycobacterial Hsp70-containing fusion protein targeting mesothelin augments antitumor immunity and prolongs survival in murine models of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 2014; 7 (1): 15 DOI:10.1186/1756-8722-7-15

Related Stories:

Workers' Compensation: Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment (PDQ®)

Nov 13, 2013

Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells are found in the pleura (the thin layer of tissue that lines the chest cavity and covers the lungs) or the peritoneum (the thin layer of tissue that lines the ...

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Workers' Compensation: Mesothelioma, Other Cancers Higher ...

Oct 19, 2013

The firefighters had a rate of mesothelioma two times greater than the rate in the U.S. population as a whole. The researchers said it was likely that the findings were associated with exposure to asbestos, and NIOSH noted ...

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Petition Aims to Build First Federally Funded Mesothelioma Program

Dec 13, 2013

If the efforts to become the first federally funded mesothelioma program are successful, the Elmo Zumwalt Treatment & Research Center in Los Angeles is expected to blossom and become a premier destination for veterans ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/





Mesothelioma Asbestos Cancer Claims the Life of Ed Lauter, Prolific

Oct 19, 2013

The tragic loss of well-known actor Ed Lauter to mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, reverberated around the world. Mesothelioma strikes celebrities like Lauter, Steve McQueen and Warren Zevon, but also countless ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 28, 2014

Nurse Ratched Comes To Workers' Compensation or Why Workers' Compensation Should NOT be Involved in Criminal Drug Enforcement

State officials and legislators are increasingly concerned with the over-prescription of opiates and other controlled substances for pain management in the workers’ compensation program.

A bill pending in...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Related Story:
Workers' Compensation: Physicians Petition to Limit Opioid Abuse
Jul 27, 2012
The efforts to reform pharmacuetical use is a tough balancing act. The ulterior motive of cost savings and profits generates sensationalism, but what makes good medical sense and what benefits the patient should not go ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

OSHA forms alliance with Concerned Beauty Professionals to reduce chemical hazards in the beauty industry

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has formed an alliance with the Georgia Concerned Beauty Professionals in Atlanta to provide hair salon owners and workers with information, guidance and training to protect employees from exposure to products that contain hazardous chemicals, such as formaldehyde.

The agreement will be signed between OSHA and the Concerned Beauty Professionals at noon on Monday, March 31 at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 250 14th St. NW, 5th floor, Atlanta 30318.

"OSHA and other federal, state and non-U.S. government agencies have taken action to address the emerging problem of formaldehyde exposure to hair smoothing products," said Teresa Harrison, OSHA's acting regional administrator in Atlanta. "This alliance demonstrates OSHA's commitment to the safety and health of workers in this industry."

OSHA requires manufacturers, importers and distributors of products that contain formaldehyde to include information about formaldehyde and its hazards on product labels and in the material safety data sheets sent to employers. Formaldehyde presents a significant health hazard if workers are exposed. It can irritate the eyes and nose; cause allergic reactions affecting the skin, eyes and lungs; and is linked to nose and lung cancer.

Federal OSHA has found formaldehyde in the air in salons where hair smoothing products were used. Some of these products have formaldehyde listed on their labels or on material safety data sheets, as required by law. However, through investigations, the agency's air tests showed formaldehyde at levels greater than OSHA's limits in salons, even though the products tested were labeled formaldehyde-free.

Companies and groups interested in learning more about OSHA's activities to improve employee safety and health in Georgia may contact OSHA's representatives in the Atlanta-West Area Office at 678-903-7301, the Atlanta-East Area Office at 770-493-6644, or the Savannah Area Office at 912-652-4393.

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with unions, consulates, trade and professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA inspections. For more information, visithttp://www.osha.gov/dcsp/alliances/index.html.

Related Articles
Dec 04, 2013
A formaldehyde spill at Southern Ocean Medical Center on Monday caused three hospital employees to be treated for inhalation of the known carcinogen. At 10:14 a.m., Stafford Township Police responded to a report of a ...
Apr 19, 2011
A recent report published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports, that formaldehyde based hair straighteners, used in many hair salons, are health hazards. The products are allegedly being used without ...
Apr 11, 2011
The hazard alert, available on OSHA's website at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/formaldehyde/hazard_alert.html, provides information about OSHA's investigations, the health hazards of formaldehyde and how to protect people ...
Sep 08, 2011
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited two Florida manufacturers and two Florida-based distributors of hair products containing formaldehyde for 16 health violations involving ...

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Despite Progress, Three-quarters of a Million Infections Threaten Hospital Patients Each Year

Hospital Acquired Infections are a compensable condition and significantly raise treatment costs and time to recuperate from a work related accident or disease. Today's post is shared from the US CDC.

On any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. hospital patients has at least one infection picked up during the course of their care, adding up to about 722,000 infections, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This information is an update to previous CDC estimates of healthcare-associated infections.

The agency released two reports today – one, a New England Journal of Medicine article detailing national healthcare-associated infection estimates, and the other an annual report on national and state-specific progress toward U.S. Health and Human Services HAI prevention goals. Together, the reports show that progress has been made in the effort to eliminate infections that commonly threaten hospital patients, but more work is needed to improve patient safety.

"Although there has been some progress, today and every day, more than 200 Americans with healthcare-associated infections will die during their hospital stay,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “The most advanced medical care won’t work if clinicians don’t prevent infections through basic things such as regular hand hygiene. Health care workers want the best for their patients; following standard infection control practices every time will help ensure their patients’ safety."

OpEd from CDC Director, Dr. Frieden on Fox News (includes 5 patient stories): http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/03/26/cdc-director-progress-in-war-on-hospital-infections-but-battle-far-from-over/

What Patients Can Do: Six Ways To Be A Safe Patient

Sep 05, 2013
For HAI incidence estimates, the investigators used the National Healthcare Safety Network of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which includes 1,700 reporting sites. By conducting a systematic literature ...
May 09, 2013
Some infections are contracted during treatment such as infection that are acquired during hospital stay. Those are called Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI). These infection are expensive to treat and are a major concern to .
Jun 09, 2011
Those are called Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI). These infection are expensive to treat and are a major concern to insurance carriers and government insurance programs such as Medicare. Medicare plans to impose ...
May 31, 2013
Some infections are contracted during treatment such as infection that are acquired during hospital stay. Those are called Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI). These infection are expensive to treat and are a major concern to .

….
Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Combating Corporate Fraud: Issue Every Employee a Workers Compensation Insurance Card

A NY Grand Jury Report Recommends: Issue Every Employee a Workers Compensation Insurance Card to Combat Employer Fraud

Read the complete report: http://tinyurl.com/kduwfew

Realtwd Stories: Read more about "corporate fraud" and workers' compensation:
9 hours ago
Corporate fraud is a majr problem in the workers' compensation system.Today's guest post authored by David Depaola is shared from http://daviddepaolo.blogspot.com and highlights a very serious problem with the nation'a ...
Nov 03, 2011
"Fraudulent practices by publicly held corporations have contributed to the economic difficulties currently facing our nation," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "The best way to prevent this from happening in ...
Jul 12, 2012
Corporate Workers Compensation Fraud: California Targets Underground Economy. Sweep targets contractors operating in California's underground economy. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today announced that a ...
Jul 11, 2012
OSHA: Corporate Fraud Contributed To Nation's Economic Problems. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will publish interim final rules in the Nov. 3 Federal Register that revise the .

….
Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Critics Say Chevron Flouted Pay-to-Play Law. FEC Says It's All Good.

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

A recent decision from the Federal Elections Commission could overturn 70 years of precedent and defang a long-standing law that bars companies from buying favorable election results to gain federal contracts. Goodbye anti-pay-to-play laws, hello corporate America profiting off lucrative government deals based on campaign donations.

The trouble all stems from a single contribution made during the 2012 election. On October 7, 2012, oil giant Chevron donated $2.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC tied to John Boehner and House Republicans that spent almost $10 million in 2012, largely on ads attacking Democratic House candidates.

That raised the ire of Public Citizen, a liberal consumer advocate group. In a complaint sent to the FEC last year, Public Citizen and a handful of other groups claimed that Chevron and CLF violated a federal law (referred to as pay-to-play) that bans any corporation that holds a contract with the federal government from contributing to a political campaign. The complaint was sent after Public Citizen checked a public database of federal contractors and noticed that Chevron was listed as working with the government. Last week the FEC dismissed those complaints with an argument that could create a loophole a million dollars wide for other companies to exploit.

The FEC bought the company's argument, which is that Chevron Corporation (the organization that donated to CLF) and Chevron U.S.A. (the organization with...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

A Real Mess

Corporate fraud is a major problem in the workers' compensation system.Today's guest post authored by David Depaola is shared from http://daviddepaolo.blogspot.com and highlights a very serious problem with the nation'a workers' compensation system.

What do Oklahoma, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Florida have in common?

If it's workers' compensation, then the connection is a far reaching scheme involving millions of dollars, failed insurance companies and professional employer organizations.

A federal grand jury in New York back in October 2012 indicted Wilbur Anthony Huff, principal behind a couple of professional employer organizations, Matthew Morris, Park Avenue Bank's former senior vice  president, and Allen Reichman, the former director of investments at New York investment house Oppenheimer & Co. 

that Huff and Morris engaged with former bank president and Chief Executive Officer Charles Antonucci in an elaborate conspiracy to plunder Park Avenue Property and Casualty, formerly known as Providence Property and Casualty Insurance Co., and its subsidiary, Imperial Casualty and Indemnity, and artificially inflate the bank's assets to secure funding from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a press release that Huff, who secretly controlled South Florida PEOs O2HR and Certified HR Services, was at the "vortex of fraud" in a series of schemes involving more than $100...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]


Read more about "corporate fraud" and workers' compensation:
Nov 03, 2011
"Fraudulent practices by publicly held corporations have contributed to the economic difficulties currently facing our nation," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "The best way to prevent this from happening in ...
Jul 12, 2012
Corporate Workers Compensation Fraud: California Targets Underground Economy. Sweep targets contractors operating in California's underground economy. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today announced that a ...
Jul 11, 2012
OSHA: Corporate Fraud Contributed To Nation's Economic Problems. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will publish interim final rules in the Nov. 3 Federal Register that revise the .

Monday, March 24, 2014

Are unions necessary?

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.latimes.com

Short answer: Yes.

The question is posed by an exchange launched by Evan Soltas at Bloomberg View, and answered by Michael Wasser of the workers rights organization Jobs for Justice. Soltas has defended himself against Wasser's response, so this could go on for a while.

The discussion was inspired by the recent defeat of a United Auto Workers drive at the Chattanooga, Tenn., plant of Volkswagen, which we discuss here. The case has inspired lots of commentary about the long-term decline of industrial unions in the U.S. and the role of that trend in the increasing of income inequality. The two trends coincide, so there really is no question that the decline of workers' voice and worker rights resulting from the decline of unions has played an important role in the rising power of the shareholding and managerial class.

One hates to say of a writer as fluent as Soltas that his analysis lacks the depth that would come from experience, but Wasser is certainly correct in arguing that Soltas' argument that the U.S. is better off without unions and "unions can't be saved" reflects the limitations of textbook-learning. A few specific issues:

To think that federal labor law has had "little to do" with union decline, as Soltas puts it, is hopelessly naive. He's misled by the fact that union membership has fallen even though we have laws guaranteeing the right to collective bargaining, and by the failure to recognize how inadequately those...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Read more about "unions":
What really caused the decline of American unions? - Workers ...
Mar 09, 2014
In that vote the union wasn't opposed by the company but by Republican political leaders across Tennessee, who threatened to destroy the plant by withdrawing public subsidies if the union won. The vote was close, 53% to ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Kansas, The Next Target: Unions expect ...
Dec 15, 2013
The project labor agreement changes stop government entities from requiring union-level wages on jobs. Unemployment benefits were changed to allow employers to avoid paying benefits if the employee broke even minor ...
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Supreme Court 2013: Court Could Cripple Unions In Major Labor ...
Nov 05, 2013
Over the next few months, the Supreme Court will hear two major cases that could prove a major setback to unions' ability to organize and collect dues -- and the conservative majority on the court is making pro-labor ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

NJ Governor Chris Christie Files 4 Nominations for Workers' Compensation Judges

NOMINATIONS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION JUDGE

1. Nominate for appointment Michael M. Luther (Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris)
2. Nominate for appointment Dawn Shanahan (Robbinsville, Mercer)
3. Nominate for appointment Maria Del Valle Koch (Perth Amboy, Middlesex)
4. Nominate for appointment Robert Thuring (Spotswood, Middlesex)

March 18, 2014

Sunday, March 23, 2014

OSHA continues extensive public engagement on silica proposal Public hearings held March 18 - April 4

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today began holding public hearings for the notice of proposed rulemaking on occupational exposure to crystalline silica. This marks the beginning of an intensive three weeks of public comment on the proposal, with hearings scheduled through Friday, April 4.

"We look forward to receiving feedback from our stakeholders on our proposal, and we're grateful for the continuing high level of public engagement throughout the rulemaking," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "This is an open process and the input we receive will help us ensure that a final rule adequately protects workers, is feasible for employers, and is based on the best available evidence."

OSHA's proposed rule seeks to lower worker exposure to crystalline silica, which causes silicosis, an incurable lung disease. Leading scientific organizations, including the American Cancer Society, have also confirmed the causal relationship between silica and lung cancer. The proposal is based on extensive review of scientific and technical evidence, consideration of current industry consensus standards and consultation with stakeholders.

Members of the public may attend the sessions to listen to testimony from OSHA and other hearing participants. To learn more about the hearing procedures, visit http://www.osha.gov/silica/hearing_procedures.html. To view the hearing schedule, visithttp://www.osha.gov/silica/hearing_schedule.html. Members of the public who filed a timely written notice of intention to appear can also ask questions of agency officials and other witnesses during the hearing. Following the hearings, OSHA will publish a transcript of the hearings and make it available to the public in the rulemaking docket, and hearing participants will have an opportunity to submit additional evidence and comments.

Published in the Federal Register on Sept. 12, 2013, OSHA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silicaaims to update the inconsistent and outdated permissible exposure limits for crystalline silica in general industry, construction and shipyards, as well as to establish other provisions to better protect workers. Additional information on the proposed rule, including five fact sheets, is available at http://www.osha.gov/silica/.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

North Carolina Says Utility Pumped Millions of Gallons of Wastewater in River

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com


Duke Energy, the electric utility whose massive spill of toxic coal ash into a river six weeks ago is part of a federal investigation, illegally pumped as much as 61 million gallons of coal-ash wastewater into a second river from September to last week, North Carolina regulators charged on Thursday.
Both the accidental spill and the deliberate releases occurred not far upstream from municipal drinking-water intakes.
The utility’s officials have said that the pumping was part of preparations for routine maintenance of two settling ponds that hold ash, the remains of coal burned to generate power.
But regulators cast doubt on that claim on Thursday. “The state’s investigation revealed that the pumping activities ongoing at this plant far exceeded what would reasonably be considered routine maintenance,” said Tom Reeder, the director of the water resources division at the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
A spokeswoman for the water resources division, Susan Massengale, noted that Duke had spent 31 days emptying 17.4 million gallons of water from one ash pond and 78 days releasing 44.4 million more from a second.
Peter Harrison, a lawyer for Waterkeeper Alliance, the New York-based environmental group that first uncovered the pumping, said Duke’s explanation was “absurd.”
“They’ve essentially simulated a terrible coal-ash spill by pumping the pond out,” he said.
Duke briefly addressed the releases in...
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Hog Wild: Factory Farms Are Poisoning Iowa's Drinking Water

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com  This story was originally published by OnEarth.
Before I even stepped from my truck onto the gravel outside the New Fashion Pork hog confinement facility, Emily Erickson, the company's animal well-being and quality assurance manager, handed me a pair of stretchy white plastic footies to put over my shoes. It was a blustery day in September, the sky threatening snow—the first hint of winter, when cold, dry air stabilizes viruses and biosecurity becomes a topmost concern.

All of the hogs inside the confinement near Jackson, Minnesota, just north of the Iowa state line and on the headwaters of the Des Moines River, would be sold to Hormel Foods. Hormel would soon post record profits on the strength of sales of Spam to Asian markets and the expansion of the company's China operations. But Jim Snee, head of Hormel Foods International, announced that the company was making an even bigger push, to firmly establish Spam in Chinese grocery stores before products from its competitor Smithfield Foods, purchased by Shuanghui International in May, could elbow them out. As a major supplier to Hormel's Spam plants in Minnesota and Nebraska, New Fashion Pork was racing to keep pace with demand. The last thing the company could afford was an outbreak of disease.

To an outsider, the hog industry's vigilance against external pathogens—symbolized by those hygienic footies—can seem strangely at odds with its dismissal of concerns about the effects of its facilities on human...

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Delay Retiring: A ‘Smart’ Decision

Today's post was shared by CRR Boston College and comes from squaredawayblog.bc.edu

If postponing retirement can improve one’s financial security in old age, why do so many people rush to retire when they reach age 62?

Much research has explored the financial and health reasons that explain why so few people choose to retire later. Taking a different tack, a new study found that individuals with higher cognition foresee a higher probability of working longer.

There were two steps to this research.

First, participants in an Internet survey were asked if they planned to continue working full-time after age 62 and, separately, if they expected to work past 65. Participants were between the ages of 45 and 61.

Next, the researchers measured each survey participant’s “crystallized intelligence,” which is the wisdom acquired with age. This type of intelligence helps to compensate for declining “fluid intelligence” – the ability to think quickly – which peaks in young adulthood. To measure their crystallized intelligence, participants took a standard psychology test in which they are shown pictures – perhaps a goat, maracas, a sextant (an astronomical instrument) – and asked to name them.

It’s an “adaptive” test that is able to measure the gamut of cognitive abilities. If an individual labels the first set of pictures accurately, then the second set of pictures he is given is more difficult to identify.

Those who scored higher on this test were...

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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

WTC P-11 Compensation Fund To Publish Procedure on How to Add Non-Cancer Conditions to List of Eligible Claims

The website of the 9-11 Claims Fund (Zadroga Act) indicates that on March 21, 2014 the Fund will post Policy and Procedures for Adding Non-Cancer Conditions To the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions (6 pages, 352 KB)
Issue Date: March 21, 2014


About this document: This document describes the process for adding non-cancer conditions to the list of WTC-related health conditions.

The document is not yet linked to the new policy and regulations but the listing indicates a roll of potential expansion for the Fund.

Related articles:
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On January 2, 2011, President Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (“Zadroga Act”) providing a total of $4.3 billion in health benefits and financial compensation for victims, responders, and ...
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On January 2, 2011, President Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (“Zadroga Act”) providing a total of $4.3 billion in health benefits and financial compensation for victims, responders, and .
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The study may significantly increase the potential benefits that utility workers may obtain under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (“Zadroga Act”) providing a total of $4.3 billion in health benefits and ...
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Signed into law in early January, the Zadroga Act provides sustained funding for the WTC Centers of Excellence and ensures that those facing 9/11-related health problems continue to receive monitoring and treatment ...

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades theLaw Offices of Jon L Gelman jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have sufferedoccupational accidents and illnesses.