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

Monday, August 9, 2010

Energy Workers Seek Faster Benefit Processing System

Energy workers exposed to radioactive substances and their survivors have spoken out for a speedier process to obtain benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) of 2000. The EEOICPA was intend to provide compensation payment to energy workers and their survivors by way of a lumpsum payment and medical coverage for certain diseases.


The complex benefit system has been plagued by delays in processing claims. The latest outcry has come from workers of a uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, IL, where 42 workers have died of cancer. Ironically Metropolis was the self-proclaimed hometown of the comic book character, Superman.


The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report in March 2010 recommending that additional independent oversight should be created. The report found that cases that do not require dose reconstruction take about a year to process, but those that do require it, may take up to 3 year to process.


Click here to read more about EEOICPA "The Cold War Compensation Act"


Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Insurance Company Liable in Tort for Delay of Medical Treatment

A US District Court Judge held that a valid cause of action existed directly against an insurance company for the delay treatment to an injured worker. The court, in denying a motion for summary judgment, held that when an insurer negligently ignored the advice of its own medical expert concerning medical treatment, a claim against the insurer itself was not barred by the Exclusivity Doctrine.


Davis v One Beacon, et al., 2010 WL 2629053 (D.N.J.) Civil Action No. 09-cv-4179 (NLH)(KMW) Decided June 28, 2010.


Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.


World Trade Center Registration Deadline September 13, 2010

The deadline to register with the NY State Workers' Compensation Board is September 13, 2010 if you participated in the rescue, recovery and clean-up of the World Trade Center following the attack of September 11, 2010. The work duty covers Ground Zero, Fresh Kills Landfill, the barges, the piers and the morgues.


Registration form WTC-12.


Click here to read more about World Trade Center Claims.

Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.




Outsourcing is the New Carve Out for Government

The economic consequences of the Depression of 2007 is causing a huge drop in governmental employment and a rebound of that job market is not anticipated in the foreseeable future. In order to save payroll costs, including the expense of workers’ compensation benefits, governmental entities are looking to privatization to avoid expenses. A pattern of furloughing staff, laying off employees and eventually outsourcing work, is the present trend.  This pattern mirrors the original workers’ compensation carve out provisions utilized to lower costs originated by Bechtel and other large employers.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Workers Compensation Takes a Bigger Bite Out of the Big Apple

The Workers' Compensation costs for the City of New York are trending upward while the number of cases are declining. In its latest yearly report on Workers Compensation costs it was revealed that in 2009 $12.9 Million were paid out to injured workers in 14,430 cases. Uniformed employees, ie. fire and police, are not covered under the workers' compensation.


Click here to read more about workers' compensation and claims for benefits. For over 3 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 asbestos related illnesses.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Lung Cancer Risk High Despite Absence of Asbestosis Diagnosis

This is an x-ray image of a chest. Both sides ...

Asbestos workers continue to have a higher risk for lung cancer even if asbestos findings are not present on x-ray. A recent report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine concludes, "Workers from an Ontario asbestos-cement factory who did not have radiographic asbestosis at 20 or 25 years from first exposure to asbestos continued to have an increased risk of death from lung cancer during an additional 12 years of follow-up." 


Click here to read more about workers' compensation and claims for benefits. For over 3 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 asbestos related illnesses.

Getting the Right Count on Injured Workers--Self-Reporting

Logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Pr...
The massive underreporting of occupational injuries and illness has been a major focus of concern in the evaluation of the true efficiency of the present patch work of State workers' compensation programs. A recent report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the feasibility of complementing existing occupational injury surveillance through the use of population-based surveys.


The report concludes that, "....additional research is needed to understand the reasons for nonpayment of worker-reported occupational injuries by workers' compensation insurance programs."  The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a non-employer based data reporting system.


Click here to read the report.


Click here to read more about workers' compensation and claims for benefits. For over 3 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 asbestos related illnesses.