Workers' Compensation

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Amazon May Get Its First Labor Union in the U.S.

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

Employees work on the inbound line at the Amazon fulfillment center in Phoenix on Dec. 2

Amazon May Get Its First Labor Union in the U.S.

Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Employees work on the inbound line at the Amazon fulfillment center in Phoenix on Dec. 2
Amazon.com’s (AMZN) labor problems have mostly been confined to the online retailer’s warehouses in countries such as Germany—until now. For the first time, employees in a U.S. Amazon facility have successfully petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold union elections.
On Dec. 6, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), a trade union of the AFL-CIO, filed a union election petition with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of 30 equipment maintenance and repair technicians working at the year-old Amazon fulfillment center in Middletown, Del. The fact that the petition was filed suggests, according to the union, that it has interest from at least a majority of those 30 workers, who are seeking to vote on whether to hold elections to establish a union.
According to John Carr, a spokesman for the IAMAW, Amazon and the union have now reached an agreement to go forward with this election. It will be held on Jan. 15 in a conference room at the Delaware facility; only members of the group of 30 technicians will be allowed to vote. The vast majority of workers at the year-old facility—more than 1,500 pickers and packers who move products from shelves into boxes and trucks—will not vote, nor will they be covered by the union if...

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Elevator Safety Flaws Persist Despite History of Tragic Accidents

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.fairwarning.org

Jacob Helvey. (The Helvey family.)

Jacob Helvey. (The Helvey family.)

Jacob Helvey in 2010. (Courtesy the Helvey family)

It was the finishing touch on Michael and Brandi Helvey’s Georgia dream house: an elevator to accommodate Michael’s mother, who was in her 80s and living with them downstairs.

The National Wheel-O-Vator Destiny had cost $20,000. But with their first child walking and safety gates in place to block their stairways, the Helveys found the elevator so handy that they raved about it to their neighbors. Then, on Christmas Eve of 2010, Brandi Helvey walked upstairs to do laundry and 3-year-old Jacob, who was left on the main floor, tried to follow — with catastrophic results.

Standing on tiptoe, Jacob managed to open the elevator’s outer door. At that point the horrific chain of events began, a tragedy linked to a design problem common to many so-called swing-door elevators found in small and older buildings and, increasingly, in homes. First, the outer door (known as the “swing door”) closed and latched, trapping the 31-pound youngster against the inner door on the elevator car.

When his mother heard noises from downstairs and hit the elevator button, Jacob was dragged upward. The car stopped within a few feet, but when it went back down, the little boy was pushed feet-first into the shaft and pinned at the chest and neck.

There, he hung for 10 crushing minutes while his mother and neighbors tried frantically to pry him loose with boards and a shovel. By the time...

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Glaxo Says It Will Stop Paying Doctors to Promote Drugs

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.nytimes.com

The British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products and will stop tying compensation of sales representatives to the number of prescriptions doctors write, its chief executive said Monday, effectively ending two common industry practices that critics have long assailed as troublesome conflicts of interest.

The announcement appears to be a first for a major drug company — although others may be considering similar moves — and it comes at a particularly sensitive time for Glaxo. It is the subject of a bribery investigation in China, where authorities contend the company funneled illegal payments to doctors and government officials in an effort to lift drug sales.

Andrew Witty, Glaxo’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview Monday that its proposed changes were unrelated to the investigation in China, and were part of a yearslong effort “to try and make sure we stay in step with how the world is changing,” he said. “We keep asking ourselves, are there different ways, more effective ways of operating than perhaps the ways we as an industry have been operating over the last 30, 40 years?”

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have paid doctors to speak on their behalf at conferences and other meetings of medical professionals, on the assumption that the doctors are most likely to value the advice of trusted peers.

But the practice has also been criticized by those who question whether it...

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After Bangladesh Factory Collapse, Bleak Struggle for Survivors

SAVAR, Bangladesh — Inside the single room he shares with his wife and young child, Hasan Mahmud Forkan does not sleep easily. Some nights he hears the screams of the garment workers he tried to rescue from the wreckage of the Rana Plaza factory building. Or he dreams the bed itself is collapsing, sucking him down into a bottomless void.

A few miles away, at a rehabilitation center for the disabled, Rehana Khatun is learning to walk again. She lost both legs in the Rana Plaza collapse and worries that she is not improving because her prosthetic replacements are bulky and uncomfortable. She is only 20 and once hoped to save money so she could return to her village and pay for her own wedding.

“No, I don’t have that dream anymore,” she said, with a cold pragmatism more than self-pity. “How can I take care of a family?”

Eight months ago, the collapse of Rana Plaza became the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry, and many of the survivors still face an uncertain future. The shoddily constructed building pancaked down onto workers stitching clothes for global brands like Children’s Place, Benetton, C & A, Primark and many others. Workers earning as little as $38 a month were crushed under tons of falling concrete and steel. More than 1,100 people died and many others were injured or maimed.

But while the Rana Plaza disaster stirred an international outcry — and shamed many international clothing companies...

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Ruling in California case may prompt new lawsuits over lead paint

The recent $1.1 Billion judgment against the lead paint companies in California for creating a public nuisance may have widespread impact across the nation. Workers' hired to implement the remediation effort will have to be adequately educated concerning safety procedure to avoid lead poisoning. The today's post is share from kansascity.com .

Paint makers could face a surge of lawsuits after a California state court judge ordered three companies to pay $1.1 billion to help government agencies get rid of lead from an estimated 5 million homes in the state.
The ruling, while preliminary, was a rare loss for an industry that had turned back some 50 lawsuits filed nationwide over the last 25 years by public agencies seeking billions of dollars to remove lead-based paint from homes built before the federal government banned the product from the U.S. market in 1987.
"The California ruling is certainly a significant development," said David Logan, a class action expert and dean of Roger Williams University Law in Rhode Island. "If it gets upheld, it will open a new path to victory for public agencies."
Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, predicted "a surge of frivolous lawsuits" because of Monday's ruling, which the industry plans to appeal.
Exposure to lead is linked to learning disabilities and other health problems, especially among poor children living in older dwellings. The Centers for Disease Control...

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On the Integrity and Secrecy of Judges

Should Workers' Compensation Judges be subject to financial and insurance disclosure regulations? A strong case exists for the need for transparency. While California leads the nations, hopefully our jurisdictions will follow. The Today's post was shared by WSJ Law Blog and comes from blogs.wsj.com

California’s financial disclosure requirements for its judges are among the strongest in the nation. The state even posts online the reports about judges income and investments — a level of transparency that almost every other state refuses to meet.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Montana, Utah and Idaho don’t require their justices to file any disclosure reports at all.
Does that mean the judiciaries of Montana, Utah and Idaho are less honest and more prone to corruption than California’s? It’s a question to think about in reading a detailed, new report by the Center for Public Integrity on judicial financial disclosure.
The nonpartisan media watchdog group scrutinized the disclosure rules for judges in the highest state courts across the nation. States were rated on a scale of 0 to 100 and assigned letter grades based on their transparency. California got a 77 out of 100, the best in the nation. Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts and Illinois also ranked in the top five. Montana, Utah and Idaho tied for last with a score of zero.
The group found dozens of examples of “questionable gifts, investments overlapping with caseloads” and instances in which judges or their spouses owned stock in companies involved in cases over which they presided.
The report suggested that the center would have identified more conflicts were it not for the spotty or non-existent disclosure rules in many states, most of which received failing...

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O Canada! Ecuadorians Win Right to Pursue Chevron North of the Border

Plaintiffs have sought to enforce an $9.2 Billion environmental contamination verdict obtained in Ecuador against Chevron Corp in Canada. Today's post is shared from http://blogs.wsj.com/law,

Here’s an interesting quirk of big litigation that may hit a multinational company: A plaintiff can try to enforce a favorable judgment in just about any country in which the defendant has significant assets.
That can create a few headaches for defendants, who might have to chase a plaintiff from Cambodia to Chad to China to keep its assets from being seized.
Chevron Corp. on Tuesday got a tough reminder of this lesson, when an appellate court in Canada ruled that winners of a $9.5 billion judgment against the oil giant in Ecuador could try to recover the assets in the Great White North.
Writes the WSJ’s Dan Gilbert:
The plaintiffs, residents of Ecuador’s jungles, are seeking to enforce a 2011 judgment against Chevron by confiscating its properties in other countries where it operates. In May, a lower court in Ontario held that the Ecuadorean judgment didn’t apply to Chevron subsidiaries like the one that owns its assets in Canada, halting the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the company there.
The Court of Appeal in Ontario reversed the lower court’s ruling.
At points in its opinion, the panel seemed put out by Chevron’s litigation tactics.
“For 20 years, Chevron has contested the legal proceedings of every court involved in this litigation – in...
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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Temporary Work, Lasting Harm

Temporary workers are a major issue for safety regulations. Today's post is shared from probulica.org

Ninety minutes into his first day on the first job of his life, Day Davis, pictured above, was called over to help at Palletizer No. 4 at the Bacardi bottling plant in Jacksonville, Fla. Above is a composite image of the times Davis is seen in a surveillance video before an all-too-common story for temp workers unfolded.

A version of this story was produced by Univision and will air tonight at 6:30 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This was it, he told his brother Jojo. He would finally be able to pay his mother back for the fender bender, buy some new shoes and, if things went well, maybe even start a life with his fiancee who was living in Atlanta.
After getting his high school diploma, completing federal job training and sending out dozens of applications, Day Davis, 21, got a job. It was through a temp agency and didn’t pay very much, but he would be working at the Bacardi bottling plant, making the best-selling rum in the world.
Davis called his mother to tell her the good news and ask if she could pick him up so he could buy the required steel-toe boots, white shirt and khaki pants and get to the factory for a 15-minute orientation before his 3 p.m. shift.
Word spread quickly through the family. “Me and my brother was like, ‘Don’t mess up now, you got to do good, don’t mess up,’ ” said his younger sister, Nia.
It was a humid 90 degrees as Davis walked into Bacardi’s Warehouse No. 7 to the rattle of glass bottles,...

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Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety

Today's post was shared by Safe Healthy Workers and comes from niosh-erc.org

The Beginnings

Men wearing protective gear

In the early 1970s, the federal government passed the "Occupational Safety and Health Act," which addressed workplace health and safety concerns that had been emerging in the US for decades.
The effort served to "protect our most precious resources--human beings--to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions, and to preserve our human resources."
This law also established new agency, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which was set up as a prevention-oriented research institute responsible for identifying occupational hazards, conducting research and field studies, and conveying the results to OSHA, the Mine Safety Health Administration, other federal agencies, and professionals working in the field. A second objective was to provide training programs based on the results of research and study for OH&S professionals.

The Mid-1970s

Awareness of occupational hazards and interest in worker protection had increased in the public and private sectors. Through needs assessments conducted at NIOSH, it was apparent there was a shortage of qualified industrial health and safety specialists to meet the challenge of worker health and safety. In response to federal goals, and in an effort to alleviate manpower shortages, NIOSH established 12 Centers of Learning at selected Universities across the country.
These Educational Resource...

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In Hollywood, Health Coverage Presents Unique Challenges

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

Inside the Fox Studios in Century City, crews are shooting the latest episodes of some of television’s biggest shows, including “Modern Family,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “Bones.” Just outside the lot, crew members on breaks are lining up at a mobile health clinic in a converted Winnebago, seeking treatment for both chronic diseases and common ailments.
The Hollywood film and television industry relies heavily on freelancers and independent contractors who are rarely offered health insurance from an employer. Throughout Southern California, producers, writers, actors, editors, camera operators and prop makers move from gig to gig and hold numerous jobs each year. Some get insurance through the industry’s unions – after paying hefty fees and dues and working enough hours on union jobs. Others pay for private policies – or simply go without.

The nation’s health law will offer financial help for those who buy policies through new insurance marketplaces and whose incomes are within the limits. But contract workers, freelancers and seasonal employees in a variety of industries will fall in and out of eligibility for subsidies, causing confusion and possible tax consequences at the end of the year.
Entertainment workers face an additional challenge on top of the constant job turnover and temporary nature of their employment. Crew members often work long hours rigging lights, moving gear and building sets, which can...

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ATA, Minnesota Trucking Association Request Sleeper Berth Pilot Project

Today's post was shared by NIOSH Transportation and comes from www.truckinginfo.com

The American Trucking Associations and Minnesota Trucking Association have jointly petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct a pilot program to study the effect of increased flexibility in the use of sleeper berth breaks by truck drivers.
“The trucking industry wants FMCSA to take its positive, laboratory-based findings on the value of split sleep and try to repeat them in a real-world field study,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “Doing a pilot test using professional drivers in actual trucking operations could give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration even more scientific data on which to base future improvements to the sleeper berth rules.”
The hours-of-service rules for truck drivers require that they take 10 consecutive hours off after their 14-hour on-duty period. However, increasingly sleep research highlights the benefits of shorter and more frequent rest periods, according to both groups.
“In the case of many truck drivers, particularly those working in teams, allowing them to break up their 10-hour off-duty period into two shorter periods would be beneficial,” said John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association.
In addition to examining any potential benefits of sleeper berth flexibility, the pilot project proposed by the trucking groups would look at the role of technological improvements in promoting driver alertness and safety.
For several years many trucking groups,...

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Reset the Clock on Cancer: Tell the Senate to Fix Our Chemical Laws

Today's post was shared by Ban Asbestos Network and comes from www.huffingtonpost.com

What would you do to prevent someone you love from getting breast cancer? To keep your sister, mother, daughter or son safe from this devastating disease that has touched millions of people? The greatest opportunity to prevent breast cancer is identifying and eliminating the environmental causes of the disease, including exposures to toxic chemicals.

Hope that we can change the course of cancer for future generations is the most compelling reason why all of us should tell our senators to fix our broken chemical system that prohibits? women -- and all of us -- from living healthy lives.

Toxic chemicals, found in everything from cleaners to furniture to plastics, endlessly bombard our bodies and take a toll on our health. A strong and rapidly growing consensus from the scientific community has determined that chemicals in everyday products are linked to diseases and disorders that persist or are on the rise in the population, including breast cancer, infertility, asthma and more.

This week Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is convening a full-day hearing with experts in public health about how to fix our broken chemicals system. The failure of the law governing chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act, (TSCA) stems from a number of factors, including the very basic flaw that chemicals don't have to be proven safe first before they are brought to market. Any meaningful reform of TSCA must shift the burden of proof to industry to demonstrate the safety of the chemicals they...

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The Selling of Prescription Drugs: A Major Change in Sales Strategy

A major international pharmaceutical company has made a major change in strategy for the sale of prescription drugs. Part of the change was induced by the economics of litigation and the threat additional lawsuits. Today's post is shared from NPR.org.

Doctors talking up drugs to other doctors has been quite lucrative for pharmaceutical companies — and the physicians who moonlight as their salesmen.

Drugmakers learned long ago that deputized doctors were effective pitchmen. A doctor paid by a company to give a dinner speech or to chat over lunch with colleagues can go a long way toward changing their prescribing habits.

But now drug giant GlaxoSmithKline says it's going to stop paying doctors to speak about drugs or diseases to people with the power to write prescriptions or influence those who do. Doctors will still be able to earn money from Glaxo through research collaborations and consulting agreements.
The company will also stop paying sales reps based on sales targets. Historically, Glaxo and other companies have tied reps' compensation to changes in the prescriptions written by doctors they call on.
The changes "are designed to bring greater clarity and confidence that whenever we talk to a doctor, nurse or other prescriber, it is patients' interests that always come first," Glaxo CEO Andrew Witty said in a statement.

Glaxo says the new approach will be implemented in all the countries it operates in by early 2016.
Some of the changes, such as the shift in sales rep pay, got rolling in the U.S. a few years ago. In 2011, Deirdre Connelly, Glaxo's U.S. president, talked about decoupling rep pay from prescriptions in a speech that acknowledged that "our industry lost its way."

Why is Glaxo making these changes now? Well, the company has been rocked by allegations of ethical missteps and worse. There's been a bribery investigation in China. And last year, a settlement of alleged health care fraud involving the marketing of some drugs in the U.S. The settlement included a restrictive corporate integrity agreement with the federal government.

Before The Prescription, Ask About Your Doctor's Finances
But CEO Witty told The New York Times the shift wasn't related to events in China or anything else in particular. Instead, he said, the changes are part the company's effort "to try and make sure we stay in step with how the world is changing. We keep asking ourselves, are there different ways, more effective ways of operating than perhaps the ways we as an industry have been operating over the last 30, 40 years?"

There are some other reasons it might be more palatable for Glaxo, and perhaps other companies, to dial back marketing now. There are fewer new drugs being launched for mass markets — think cholesterol-fighters, antidepressants and blood pressure pills. And more doctors' offices and hospitals have restricted interactions between physicians and the drug industry.
Also, public scrutiny of these relationships has been increasing year by year. In 2014, a plank of the Affordable Care Act will bring even more sunshine to bear. Makers of drugs and devices will have to make public what they pay doctors.

"Many people have wondered, what difference will it make?" asked Susan Chimonas, a research scholar at the Center on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University. "Will it clean up practices, or just allow the status quo to continue so long as there is transparency? Glaxo's move is giving us an early answer — and reason for optimism," she told ProPublica. "The saying about sunlight being the best disinfectant — that's exactly what we're seeing here. The sunshine law is working."

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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 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.

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Obama administration to begin processing Social Security payments to same-sex couples

Same sex marriages are now going to be recognized as beneficiaries for Social Security purposes. Today's post is shared from Jurist.org

The Obama administration announced [press release] Monday that the Social Security Administration will begin processing payments to surviving spouses of same-sex married couples
In n a brief statement, Press Officer LaVenia LaVelle said, "I am pleased to announce that, effective today, Social Security is processing some widow's and widower's claims by surviving members of same-sex marriages and paying benefits where they are due. In addition, we are able to pay some one-time lump sum death benefit claims to surviving same-sex spouses.

As I stated shortly after the Supreme Court decision on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, our goal is to treat all Americans with dignity and respect." Widow's benefits are payable to the surviving spouses who were married at the time of their spouse's death, as well as those who were legally married for at least 10 years, but later divorced. The maximum amount a widow over 60 years old may receive is the amount the deceased spouse was receiving or would have received at the time of death. Because the SSA regulations specifically yield to the definition of "marriage" used by the state in which a couple lives, the SSA has lagged behind other federal departments in providing for same-sex couples.
Other federal agencies have taken similar steps to ensure the inclusion of same-sex couples in administrative processes. Earlier this month the US Department of Education [official website] announced [JURIST report] that for the purposes of applying for and receiving federal student financial aid, the federal government will now recognize all legal same-sex marriages.On the same day as the Department of Education's announcement, the US Customs and Border Protection said [Time report] it will expand the definition of "members of a family residing in a household" to include same-sex couples and other domestic relationships so as to facilitate the declarations process.
While the Windsor decision did not create a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, it does entitle couples in lawfully recognized same-sex marriages to certain federal benefits. In September the US Department of Labor [official website] issued guidance explaining [JURIST report] that all legally married same-sex spouses in the US can participate in employee benefit plans overseen by the Employee Benefits Security Administration [official website]. Earlier in September the US Department of Justice [official website] announced [JURIST report] that it will no longer enforce a federal law that denies same-sex spouses veterans benefits. In August the US Treasury Department [official website] announced that it, along with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official website], will recognize marriages [JURIST report] of all same-sex couples for federal tax purposes.

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Calif. judge wants paint companies to cover cost of lead removal

Lead paint has been deemed a "public nuisance" and a Judge in California has directed several former lead paint companies to pay $1.1 Billion dollars to remove the lead. Lead has long known to be a toxic substance and has been banned in the US. Workers, children and the general public are at the risk of becoming ill to lead paint still in place in older dwellings and buildings. Toady post is shared from youtube.com and the CBS Evening News.

A California judge ruled that three major paint companies should be held responsible for creating a "public nuisance" by selling lead paint prior to it being banned in 1978. The $1.1 billion fine levied against Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra and NL Industries will be used to help remove the paint from an estimated 4.7 million California homes. Ben Tracy reports.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Governor Cuomo Announces Significant new Protections for World Trade Center Workers

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced World Trade Center workers who performed rescue, recovery and clean-up in the year after 9/11 now have significant new protections for workers’ compensation benefits. The World Trade Center Registry was reopened and the deadline for joining extended to September 11, 2014; certain previously time-barred World Trade Center claims are being reopened and considered timely; and qualifying health conditions were added to the law.

“New York State is committed to caring for those who stood up in the face of danger to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts during and after the horrific attacks at the World Trade Center,” Governor Cuomo said. “That is why we are providing new protections for the workers, including first responders, clean-up crews and volunteers, who answered the call for help and ensuring they have access to workers’ compensation benefits for the future. I urge those who worked at Ground Zero and other recovery sites to file a WTC-12 form today to apply for the benefits they deserve.”

Filing a WTC-12 form with the Workers’ Compensation Board preserves the workers’ compensation rights for those who performed rescue, recovery and clean-up after the World Trade Center attacks. The State again urges those who worked at Ground Zero, the Fresh Kills Landfill, on the barges, the piers and the morgues to file a WTC-12 form, no matter if they were injured or not and whether they were employed or volunteered.

The last national Tell Us You Were There campaign ended with 41,094 filings received by the previous Sept. 13, 2010, deadline. As part of a new law signed by Governor Cuomo, any WTC-12 filings received after that date are now consider timely.

The Board will also review its files to locate any World Trade Center claims previously disallowed as “untimely” under Workers’ Compensation Law Secs. 18 and/or 28 or from failure to file a timely WTC-12 form. The Board will, under its own initiative, now reconsider those particular World Trade Center claims “timely.”

A detailed list of qualifying health conditions resulting from hazardous exposure for World Trade Center workers who participated in rescue, recovery and clean-up operations was also added. The categories are diseases of the:

Upper respiratory tract and mucosae;
Lower respiratory tract;
Gastroesophageal tract;
Psychological axis; and
New onset diseases that develop in the future resulting from exposure.

“When New Yorkers needed their help, 9/11 rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers selflessly answered the call,” President of the New York State AFL-CIO Mario Cilento said. “It's incumbent upon us, as a state, to be there for them now and in the future as we continue to learn more about the growing impact of their exposure. We commend Governor Cuomo and the Legislature for ensuring that critical treatment and benefits will be available for the heroes who served in the aftermath of 9/11.”

“The enactment of this legislation is a major victory for those who worked in rescue, recovery and cleanup operations following the attack on the World Trade Center,” Executive Director Joel Shufro of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health said. “By extending the deadline to register to file a claim for another year and reinstating those whose registrations were previously time barred, many workers who develop WTC related illnesses with long latency periods will be eligible to file for benefits under New York State’s Workers’ Compensation Law. The enactment of this legislation is an act of justice and equity and the legislature should be congratulated for passing the legislation and the governor for signing it.”

“As an injured worker as of the result of working at Ground Zero, I know firsthand what this important piece of legislation means to those who are sick or injured from their heroic actions. This will bill not only provides those sick or injured the opportunity to apply for benefits, but more importantly it gives them hope that our Governor still cares about yesterday's heroes,” John Feal, founder of the FealGood Foundation, said.

Governor Cuomo is committed to ensuring all World Trade Center workers receive the benefits and protections they are accorded under the law. To achieve this, at his direction the Board has:
Contacted previously untimely filers;

Translated the WTC-12 form into seven languages other than English;

Reopened a dedicated phone line for World Trade Center workers, 1 855 WTC-2014 (1 855 982-2014);

Relaunched the web page www.wcb.ny.gov/WTC12 for World Trade Center workers; and
Planned outreach to workers and groups representing World Trade Center workers.

All these worker protections were added to Workers’ Compensation Law Article 8-A.

The Board’s dedicated World Trade Center work groups and hearing parts have functioned continuously since September 2001.
….

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.

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Oklahoma Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To Worker's Comp Law - Opt-Out is The Law

The Oklahoma Opt-Out Law for workers' compensation has been upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Industry biased system will take the place of the traditional system in Oklahoma in February 2014. Today's post is shared from newson6.com .

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a constitutional challenge to the state's new workers' compensation law.
The court handed down the ruling Monday, just one week after justices heard oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the law. The court rejected allegations the law contains multiple subjects in violation of the Constitution's single-subject rule that legislation address just one subject.
The ruling says all sections of the new law are inter-related and refer to the single subject of workers' compensation or the way employees may ensure protection against work-related injuries.
The legislation was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin in May. It was challenged in the lawsuit by state Sen. Harry Coates, state Rep. Emily Virgin -- both Democrats -- and the Professional Firefighters of Oklahoma.

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