Naturally occurring asbestos minerals may be more widespread than previously thought, with newly discovered sources now identified within the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The asbestos-rich areas are in locations not previously considered to be at risk, according to a new report. “These minerals were found where one wouldn’t expect or think to look,” said a co-researcher of the study. The naturally occurring asbestos was found in Boulder City, Nevada, in the path of a construction zone to build a multi-million dollar highway.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Employer Fraud and Recommendations from New York State Supreme Court’s Grand Jury Report
Today's post is shared from http://legaltalknetwork.com/
A recent Grand Jury Report from the New York State Supreme Court brought recommendations of change to handle Employer Fraud in Workers’ Compensation. Among the recommended areas of change are the application process, criminal statutes, and the method of collecting data. On this episode ofWorkers Comp Matters, host Alan Pierce interviews Gilda Mariani of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Together they discuss the results of the Grand Jury Report and the subsequent victims of premium fraud. Tune in to learn more about employee classifications, the involuntary insurance market, and drivers of cost for workers’ compensation insurance.
Gilda Mariani is with the New York County District Attorney’s Office, having held supervisory positions including Deputy Chief of its former Frauds Bureau as well as Chief of its former Money Laundering and Tax Crimes Unit. She has had a significant role in drafting legislation, including the New York Money Laundering Statute and the misdemeanor crime of Providing a Juror with a Gratuity. She has conducted several investigations that have led to issuance of Reports by the New York County Grand Jury, including the Grand Jury Report released in March 2014 on workers’ compensation reform. Mariani is also a recipient of the Robert M. Morgenthau Award by the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.
Are Uber Drivers Getting Their Tips?
Today's post is shared from http://ncworkcompjournal.com/
A U.S. federal judge recently ruled that a ride-sharing service must face a lawsuit alleging that the company has been pocketing tips meant for the drivers (Detroit Free Press, September 19, 2014). Uber Technologies is a smartphone-summoned car service based in San Francisco that has been charging a 20% surcharge on rides. Uber was founded in 2009 and is currently in 35 countries and more than 100 cities. It is valued at $18.2 billion and is the most valued ventured-back company in the world.
Filed in January, the class-action suit alleges that Uber has been keeping a “substantial portion” of the gratuity as additional revenue rather than sharing with its drivers. This lawsuit also accuses the company of misleading customers about the true cost of its service. The complaint characterizes Uber’s practice as unfair and deceptive because Uber keeps most of the surcharge and it’s not a gratuity.
Uber, Lyft and other car-booking companies have been facing a growing number of legal challenges. In Chicago, cab drivers sued the city claiming that these smartphone-summoned services are not subject to the same regulations governing conventional taxi companies. In Connecticut, Uber and Lyft have also been accused of racketeering by taxi and livery operators who accuse the companies of preying on established businesses and cutting legal corners by partnering with affiliated drivers instead of owning cars. That way, these companies claim they are different from taxi dispatchers and shouldn’t be forced to comply with existing regulations, such as driver background checks and liability insurance.
A U.S. federal judge recently ruled that a ride-sharing service must face a lawsuit alleging that the company has been pocketing tips meant for the drivers (Detroit Free Press, September 19, 2014). Uber Technologies is a smartphone-summoned car service based in San Francisco that has been charging a 20% surcharge on rides. Uber was founded in 2009 and is currently in 35 countries and more than 100 cities. It is valued at $18.2 billion and is the most valued ventured-back company in the world.
Filed in January, the class-action suit alleges that Uber has been keeping a “substantial portion” of the gratuity as additional revenue rather than sharing with its drivers. This lawsuit also accuses the company of misleading customers about the true cost of its service. The complaint characterizes Uber’s practice as unfair and deceptive because Uber keeps most of the surcharge and it’s not a gratuity.
Uber, Lyft and other car-booking companies have been facing a growing number of legal challenges. In Chicago, cab drivers sued the city claiming that these smartphone-summoned services are not subject to the same regulations governing conventional taxi companies. In Connecticut, Uber and Lyft have also been accused of racketeering by taxi and livery operators who accuse the companies of preying on established businesses and cutting legal corners by partnering with affiliated drivers instead of owning cars. That way, these companies claim they are different from taxi dispatchers and shouldn’t be forced to comply with existing regulations, such as driver background checks and liability insurance.
California Nurses’ Union Pulls Ebola Into Contract Talks
This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
The powerful California Nurses Association has put Ebola on the bargaining table in its negotiations for a new contract with Kaiser Permanente.
Contract talks have been going on for months and the nurses’ most recent demands are all about Ebola — better training, more staffing, protective gear that goes beyond what’s recommended by federal officials and even a special life insurance policy.
“We’d like to have an extra supplemental coverage, for specifically Ebola, if we were to contract Ebola while we’re at work,” says Diane McClure, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s hospital in Sacramento, where a patient suspected of having Ebola was treated in August. He later tested negative for the virus. (KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente).
And, she says even a month after the Ebola scare at her hospital, nurses had not received any meaningful, hands-on training.
“They felt that all they had to do was pull up some [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] information online and put some flyers on the tables and in the bathroom and that was it,” says McClure, who is a member of the nurses’ bargaining team.
Kaiser Permanente hasn’t responded to all of the California Nurses Association’s demands. In a statement, KP said that it is rolling...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Chemical leak contained at New Jersey refinery
| Today's post is shared from app.com Officials say no one was injured during a chemical leak in northern New Jersey. Infineum USA says the leak was spotted in a drum containing 25 percent of ethyl aluminum dichloride art the company’s plant in Linden’s Bayway Refinery Complex around 8 a.m. Monday. Employees sheltered in place and the leak was isolated about 45 minutes later. Infineum says approximately 1,400 pounds of the chemical was released in the form of a cloud that dissipated within an hour. The company says there was no danger to those in the complex or in the community. The state health department says the highly flammable and reactive chemical can irritate the nose, eyes and skin. It also can cause rash and burns. The company is investigating to determine what caused the leak. |
Good Things: No Chief's Disease Here
Today's post is shared from guest author David DePaolo and is shared from http://daviddepaolo.blogspot.com/
The California Highway Patrol, criticized in the past for exploitative "Chief's Disease," has a program in place that demonstrates that workers' compensation can accomplish amazing things when all of the right motivations are in all of the right places and everyone does their job.
Last week, CBS Sacramento ran a story about CHP officer Mike Mitchell and the CHP's program.
Mitchell lost his leg in 2011 in an automobile crash when he was responding to a call in Amador County. His car hit a tree so violently that he doesn't remember the crash at all, and his injuries were so severe his right leg had to be amputated.
His employer offered him a chance to return to the force, but he had to prove himself physically (and mentally) capable by going through the academy again, this time with a computerized prosthetic that is the stuff of imagination 40 years ago (think "Six Million Dollar Man" with actor Lee Majors as the star).
The prosthetic didn't cost millions - the article says it cost about $100,000.
“I have kids at home and I can’t let them see me quit,” he tells his interviewer.
“Officer-safety wise I still have to able to be able to fight, I still have to be able to shoot and drive. Do everything I’m suppose to do,” he goes on.
After going through retraining and passing the physical assessment tests he regained his uniform and is back on the job patrolling in a CHP cruiser.
“I love doing it,” he said, reflecting the attitude that is necessary for an injured worker to overcome huge obstacles. “I love being out in the public.”
According to the story, there are four other full time officers who are amputees.
I'm sure there are also many failure stories where benefits were not provided timely, or there is a dispute about treatment or indemnity, or where an officer attempts to take advantage of the generous disability compensation system in place for California peace officers.
Those negative situations get a lot of attention. It's easy to focus on the bad, to criticize, and blame.
It's much harder to be successful, to overcome huge obstacles, to achieve cooperation between the many people that need to contribute for a successful outcome - that requires communication, vision, and a huge helping of positive attitude.
The CHP says on its website that, "When injuries occur, our obligation is to ensure all appropriate benefits are accessed and received by those injured employees."
I have to believe that statement when I see a story such as Mitchell's.
We at WorkCompCentral believe that success should be celebrated. So much of workers' compensation is draped in negativity - after all, going through a life altering event such as a work injury is steeped in uncertainty, stress and disappointment.
But there are success stories, many of them. We don't hear about those, and some people have been critical of the Comp Laude Awards for injured workers stating that we are making a mockery of the system.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and the fact is that we have had many, many injured workers nominated, and many other injured workers praising our efforts to recognize people who have overcome the odds.
And this happens with the help of the teams of people, the employers, claims adjusters, doctors, attorneys, doing their jobs the best they can.
Stay in this industry long enough and cynicism can dominate your thoughts.
Workers' compensation does good things. We just don't hear about them very often.
When you go to work this morning, do good things - make a case work properly, get an injured worker back on the job, celebrate positive outcomes!
And join us Saturday, December 6, to recognize people and companies that make a difference.
The California Highway Patrol, criticized in the past for exploitative "Chief's Disease," has a program in place that demonstrates that workers' compensation can accomplish amazing things when all of the right motivations are in all of the right places and everyone does their job.
Last week, CBS Sacramento ran a story about CHP officer Mike Mitchell and the CHP's program.
Mitchell lost his leg in 2011 in an automobile crash when he was responding to a call in Amador County. His car hit a tree so violently that he doesn't remember the crash at all, and his injuries were so severe his right leg had to be amputated.
His employer offered him a chance to return to the force, but he had to prove himself physically (and mentally) capable by going through the academy again, this time with a computerized prosthetic that is the stuff of imagination 40 years ago (think "Six Million Dollar Man" with actor Lee Majors as the star).
The prosthetic didn't cost millions - the article says it cost about $100,000.
“I have kids at home and I can’t let them see me quit,” he tells his interviewer.
“Officer-safety wise I still have to able to be able to fight, I still have to be able to shoot and drive. Do everything I’m suppose to do,” he goes on.
After going through retraining and passing the physical assessment tests he regained his uniform and is back on the job patrolling in a CHP cruiser.
“I love doing it,” he said, reflecting the attitude that is necessary for an injured worker to overcome huge obstacles. “I love being out in the public.”
According to the story, there are four other full time officers who are amputees.
I'm sure there are also many failure stories where benefits were not provided timely, or there is a dispute about treatment or indemnity, or where an officer attempts to take advantage of the generous disability compensation system in place for California peace officers.
Those negative situations get a lot of attention. It's easy to focus on the bad, to criticize, and blame.
It's much harder to be successful, to overcome huge obstacles, to achieve cooperation between the many people that need to contribute for a successful outcome - that requires communication, vision, and a huge helping of positive attitude.
The CHP says on its website that, "When injuries occur, our obligation is to ensure all appropriate benefits are accessed and received by those injured employees."
I have to believe that statement when I see a story such as Mitchell's.
We at WorkCompCentral believe that success should be celebrated. So much of workers' compensation is draped in negativity - after all, going through a life altering event such as a work injury is steeped in uncertainty, stress and disappointment.
But there are success stories, many of them. We don't hear about those, and some people have been critical of the Comp Laude Awards for injured workers stating that we are making a mockery of the system.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and the fact is that we have had many, many injured workers nominated, and many other injured workers praising our efforts to recognize people who have overcome the odds.
And this happens with the help of the teams of people, the employers, claims adjusters, doctors, attorneys, doing their jobs the best they can.
Stay in this industry long enough and cynicism can dominate your thoughts.
Workers' compensation does good things. We just don't hear about them very often.
When you go to work this morning, do good things - make a case work properly, get an injured worker back on the job, celebrate positive outcomes!
And join us Saturday, December 6, to recognize people and companies that make a difference.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Mediterranean Diet and Workplace Health Promotion
Analytical and experimental studies confirm relationships between the consumption of certain foods and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Mediterranean diet patterns have long been associated with a reduced risk of major diseases and many favorable health outcomes. Data from observational, longitudinal, and randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that Mediterranean-style diets can improve body mass index and body weight, reduce the incidence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome risk factors, decrease cardiovascular morbidity and coronary heart disease mortality, as well as decrease all-cause mortality.
Recently, efforts have attempted to improve dietary habits in the workplace, by modifying food selection, eating patterns, meal frequency, and the sourcing of meals taken during work. Evidence supporting the Mediterranean diet and the potential cardioprotective role of healthier diets in the workplace are reviewed here, and promising strategies to improve metabolic and cardiovascular health outcomes are also provided.
Mediterranean Diet and Workplace Health Promotion, Maria Korre, Michael A. Tsoukas, Elpida Frantzeskou, Justin Yang, and Stefanos N. Kales , Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep. 2014; 8(12): 416.
Published online Oct 10, 2014. doi: 10.1007/s12170-014-0416-3
Related articles
Protecting Workers from being Destroyed by the Work Schedule
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| Senator Tom Harkin |
Today's post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr., from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.
I wrote the post below as an editorial in the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Because The Scheudles That Work Act is of national importance I want to make sure this issue receives the attention that it deserves by promoting awareness of it as broadly as possible. I hope you'll take the time to read my editorial and pass it along to concerned citizens in your area.
Workers deserve some certainty in their work schedules. Why? Because we all have need to plan for child care, time for school, transportation, or simply time to pay bills and manage the household. It’s basic fairness.
But don’t you, a friend or an acquaintance work a job with unpredictable and irregular work schedules? You’ve probably noticed that irregular and on-call scheduling are increasingly common. It’s especially common in the fastest-growing areas of our economy---- cleaning, janitorial, retail and restaurant work.
These scheduling practices can devastate the worker and her/his family. The practices demand the worker choose between his job or his family. They often lead to the worker being fired.
Vermont and San Francisco have already passed laws to help employers and workers avoid this devastation.
Senator Tom Harkin has now proposed The Schedules That Work Act to help workers balancework duties with family duties. The Act helps both workers and employers by:
- Protecting all employees from retaliation for requesting a more flexible, predictable or stable schedule.
- Creating a process under which an employer considers a worker’s schedule request in a way that’s sensitive to the needs of the worker and her/his family. For example, schedule requests based on caregiving duties, health conditions, pursuing education or the need to meet the demands of a second job, must be granted, unless the employer has a good business reason for denying it.
- Compensating retail, food service, and cleaning workers for at least four hours of work if an employee reports to work when scheduled for at least four hours but is sent home early.
- Providing that retail, food service, and cleaning employees receive work schedules at least two weeks in advance. Though schedules may later be changed, one hour’s worth of extra pay is required for schedules changed with less than twenty-four (24) hours’ notice.
- Providing workers an extra hour of pay if scheduled to work split shifts or non-consecutive shifts, within a single day.
Kudos to Senator Harkin! Some politicians and billionaire-driven PACs parrot “Iowa values” as a campaign slogan. Senator Harkin, on the contrary, uses those values to create legislation like the ADA and The Schedules That Work Act.
Walmart Workers Demand $15 Wage in Several Protests
As retail workers step up demands for higher wages and more stable working hours, a trade organization has warned that many retailers cannot afford to pay more, intensifying a debate over fair pay in a struggling industry.  On Thursday, organizers of a group called Our Walmart took to the streets in New York, Washington and Phoenix to draw attention to their campaign to change labor practices in retailing and other low-wage industries like fast-food restaurants. By not paying their workers a living wage, the activists say, such businesses squeeze the very people they hope to sell to. “I can’t afford anything,” said LaRanda Jackson, 20, who earns $8.75 an hour working on the sales floor at a Walmart in Cincinnati. “Sometimes I can’t afford soap, toothpaste, tissue. Sometimes I have to go without washing my clothes.”  Ms. Jackson was among 14 Walmart employees and 12 others who were arrested and charged with civil disobedience Thursday after staging a protest outside the Manhattan residence of Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, demanding that Walmart set a base pay of $15 for all its workers — much like the... |
The Long Arm of Failure
| How far do failed New York self-insurance trust issues go? Answer: All the way across the nation to the West Coast. In a lawsuit recently filed, California-based Waste Connections Inc. says it was duped because New York based Hudson Valley Waste Holding Inc. failed to disclose nearly $5 million in assessments by New York regulators for liabilities stemming from the Team Transportation Workers' Comp Trust, that failed in 2010. Waste paid $300 million for Hudson Valley in 2011. In 2005, the New York Workers' Compensation Board calculated that the trust equity ratio was 78.6% and deemed it to be underfunded as of Dec. 31, 2004. While the group's equity ratio improved to the point that the board stopped classifying it as underfunded as of Dec. 31, 2007, by July 29, 2010, it was once again declared underfunded. In October 2010, the trustees held a meeting in which they voted to close the trust effective Jan. 1, 2011.  An audit was conducted by the board after it took control of the trust in 2012 and the analysis found the trust had a deficit of $32.5 million, plus interest. The amount owed by the Hudson Valley companies consequently became $4.9 million. As of July 1, 2014, interest totaling $49,000 had accrued, and continues to accrue until the deficit is fully paid, according to Waste's complaint. A Workers' Compensation Board report sent to lawmakers in June says the Team Trust has 120 open claims. The trust had 193 open claims when the board took it over in 2012. Hudson Valley has not... |
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Virginia Dietrich, NJ Judge of Compensation
Today's post is shared from nj.com
Virginia M. Dietrich, 62, a NJ judge of Workers' Compensation, died suddenly and peacefully on Oct. 15, 2014. Born in Trenton, Judge Dietrich was a lifelong resident of Mercer County.
She obtained both her undergraduate and law degrees at The Catholic University of America. Judge Dietrich began her legal career as a law clerk to Mercer County Superior Court judges and then practiced law for 25 years with her father, J. Raymond Dietrich, from their office in Ewing. In her law practice, Judge Dietrich specialized in workers' compensation, matrimonial, and real estate law.
In 2002, Governor Donald DiFrancesco nominated and the New Jersey Senate confirmed her appointment as a judge of Workers' Compensation. She soon was appointed an administrative supervisory judge and at the time of her death she was the chief administrative supervisory judge, reporting to the director of Workers' Compensation.
Virginia M. Dietrich, 62, a NJ judge of Workers' Compensation, died suddenly and peacefully on Oct. 15, 2014. Born in Trenton, Judge Dietrich was a lifelong resident of Mercer County.
She obtained both her undergraduate and law degrees at The Catholic University of America. Judge Dietrich began her legal career as a law clerk to Mercer County Superior Court judges and then practiced law for 25 years with her father, J. Raymond Dietrich, from their office in Ewing. In her law practice, Judge Dietrich specialized in workers' compensation, matrimonial, and real estate law.
In 2002, Governor Donald DiFrancesco nominated and the New Jersey Senate confirmed her appointment as a judge of Workers' Compensation. She soon was appointed an administrative supervisory judge and at the time of her death she was the chief administrative supervisory judge, reporting to the director of Workers' Compensation.
Judge Dietrich possessed a generous spirit towards those in need. Early in her legal career, she served many weekends at a homeless shelter in New York City. As an attorney, she represented many individuals of limited economic means on a pro bono or reduced fee basis. As a judge, she was determined to make certain that injured workers received the full compensation to which they were entitled under the law. She extended her generosity of spirit to family members and friends. Judge Dietrich was immensely proud of her seven nieces, whom she loved dearly.
Her experiences as a young lawyer, when there were relatively few female attorneys, informed her advice to them to strive to be exceptional women. They took her advice to heart and returned her love. Judge Dietrich possessed a sharp intellect. She would often read as many as seven books in a week. She was a two-time "Jeopardy!" champion. Family members will miss lively debates with her on political and cultural issues. For 25 years, Judge Dietrich taught law courses as an adjunct professor in the School of Business of The College of New Jersey. For many years, she served as a trustee of the Trenton Public Library.
Click here to read the entire article.
Her experiences as a young lawyer, when there were relatively few female attorneys, informed her advice to them to strive to be exceptional women. They took her advice to heart and returned her love. Judge Dietrich possessed a sharp intellect. She would often read as many as seven books in a week. She was a two-time "Jeopardy!" champion. Family members will miss lively debates with her on political and cultural issues. For 25 years, Judge Dietrich taught law courses as an adjunct professor in the School of Business of The College of New Jersey. For many years, she served as a trustee of the Trenton Public Library.
Click here to read the entire article.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
California Prop. 46, Inspired By Tragedy, Pits Doctors Against Lawyers
| This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) Troy and Alana Pack had spent the day at their neighborhood Halloween party in Danville. Ten-year-old Troy went as a baseball player, and 7-year-old Alana was a good witch. In the afternoon, they changed out of their costumes and set out for a walk with their mother. Destination: Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors. “Alana, she liked anything with chocolate,” says their father, Bob Pack. “Troy, for sure, bubble gum ice cream, ’cause he liked counting the bubble gums that he would get.” Bob and Carmen Pack with their children Troy and Alana, who were killed by an impaired driver. Bob has been pushing for California's Prop 46 to be passed. Bob Pack stayed home. His family made it only half a mile down the road before his phone rang: “I received a call from a neighbor screaming there’d been an accident. And I raced down there.” An impaired driver had veered off the road and hit Troy and Alana head-on. Pack was doing CPR on Troy when the paramedics arrived. “I remember telling them I love them, and hang on. Just praying that they could hang on,” he says Troy and Alana were pronounced dead at the hospital. In the months after their death, Pack’s wife, Carmen, retreated into her Catholic faith. Bob Pack was angry. “I think, for me to get through, I needed action,” he says, “and I needed to... |
FedEx Ground Says Its Drivers Aren't Employees. The Courts Will Decide
| Five days a week for 10 years, Agostino Scalercio left his house before 6 a.m., drove to a depot to pick up a truck, and worked a 10-hour shift delivering packages in San Diego. He first worked for Roadway Package System, a national delivery company whose founders included former United Parcel Service (UPS) managers, and continued driving trucks when (FDX) bought RPS in 1998. FedEx Ground assigned Scalercio a service area. The company, he says, had strict standards about delivery times, the drivers’ grooming, truck maintenance, and deadlines for handing in paperwork, and deducted money from his pay to cover the cost of his uniform, truck washings, and the scanner used to log shipments. FedEx Ground didn’t pay overtime or contribute to Scalercio’s Social Security benefits. That’s because since acquiring RPS and introducing its ground service, the FedEx unit has treated drivers as independent contractors, not employees. “The saying around the building was, ‘It’s their sandbox. We only get to play in it,’ ” says Scalercio, who no longer drives for FedEx Ground but is one of hundreds of current and former drivers suing the FedEx subsidiary, seeking back pay for overtime worked and for paycheck deductions. (The parent company is not a defendant.)Scalercio earned about $90,000 a year from FedEx, he says, but... |
Nurses who fear Ebola have few options: complaining, sick days or walking out
Today's post was shared by CAAA and comes from www.theguardian.com
 Cyndi Krahne is a nurse. Since the first Ebola patient died in the US, she has not worn her work shoes in the car. When she gets home, she follows a careful ritual in her garage: taking off her scrubs, stepping gingerly out of her shoes. She carefully wraps them in plastic and puts them in an out-of-the-way place where they won’t touch anything. The shoes and the scrubs never make it into the house. In a week when Dallas is considering declaring itself an Ebola disaster zone, nurses are nervous. Krahne has five children. “I am concerned. I don’t want them exposed,” she says. She’s seen infectious diseases before in the 10 years she has worked at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center Santa Rosa, California. She’s been careful – but never this diligent. Fear is the reason for her conscientiousness. Krahne says she doesn’t feel safe at work. She is still without training or protective equipment. Krahne’s confidence is wavering that her workplace is as dedicated to her safety and well-being as she is. “We haven’t received any education, nor do we have proper personal protective equipment to care for patients with Ebola,” she says.... |
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Pulmonary fibrosis asbestos link found
Many cases of a common lung disease that were assumed to be of no known cause are in fact the result of exposure to asbestos, UK scientists believe. Researchers from Imperial College London found a correlation between death rates in England and Wales from the known asbestos-related conditions asbestosis and mesothelioma and from “idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis” (IPF). Many cases of a common lung disease that were assumed to be of no known cause are in fact the result of exposure to asbestos, scientists believe. Researchers from Imperial College London found a correlation between death rates in England and Wales from the known asbestos-related conditions asbestosis and mesothelioma and from “idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis” (IPF). In findings presented to the European Respiratory Society (ERS) international congress in Munich, Germany, they warn that at present people with a history of asbestos exposure may be missing out on appropriate care, as they are not currently able to access new treatments for IPF. According to the researchers, asbestosis is the name given to the lung fibrosis developed by people with a known history of exposure to asbestos; IPF is an identical condition, just without the asbestos association being made. Their analysis of UK Office of National Statistics data revealed national and regional correlations between the three diseases. This supports the theory that a proportion of IPF cases are due to... |
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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). 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.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Path to Federalization: Obama May Name ‘Czar’ to Oversee Ebola Response
DALLAS — President Obama raised the possibility on Thursday that he might appoint an “Ebola czar” to manage the government’s response to the deadly virus as anxiety grew over the air travel of an infected nurse.  Schools closed in two states, hospitals and airlines kept employees home from work, and Americans debated how much they should worry about a disease that has captured national attention but has so far infected only three people here.A federal official said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had broadened its search for contacts of Amber Joy Vinson, the second nurse infected with Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital here, after interviewing family members who gave a different version of events from Ms. Vinson’s. The nurse had said she had a slight fever before boarding a flight from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday. But family members said she had appeared remote and unwell during her trip to Ohio over the weekend. The C.D.C. said it was now tracking down passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight 1142 from Dallas to Cleveland, which Ms. Vinson took last Friday. It had already been tracing passengers on her Monday flight.Ms. Vinson’s case raised flags for investigators because the day after she arrived home in Dallas, she reported substantial symptoms. Health experts say those would be unlikely to develop in just one day. Seven people in Ohio were voluntarily quarantined because they had contact with Ms. Vinson... |
Read more about the "The Path to Federalization"
Jul 05, 2012
United States Supreme Court has taken a giant leap forward to facilitate the Federalization of the entire nation's workers' compensation system. By it's recent decision, upholding the mandate for insurance care under the ...
Dec 23, 2010
Yesterday the US Congress passed and sent to the President, The World Trade Center Health Program, marking yet another advance on the path to federalize the nation's workers' compensation program. The Federally ...
Jun 14, 2012
Yesterday the US Congress passed and sent to the President, The World Trade Center Health Program, marking yet another advance on the path to federalize the nation's workers' compensation program. The Federally .
May 17, 2013
and will put greater control and more choice in the hands of individuals and small businesses." Read more about "Federalization" and workers' compensation: Path to Federalization: A National Workers Compensation System.
Ebola Now an Issue in Nurses’ Contract Bargaining
Nurses’ calls for better hospital preparation around Ebola have landed on the bargaining table. California’s powerful nurses’ union has been bargaining with Kaiser Permanente for months over a new contract, and is now adding to its list of demands better training, protection, and insurance coverage for nurses who may treat patients infected with Ebola.
“Kaiser felt all they had to do was pull up some CDC flyers and put them on the lunchroom tables or up in the bathrooms,” she says. Nurses want hands-on, interactive training with demonstrations and the opportunity to ask questions, says McClure, who is a member of the California Nurses Association and part of the bargaining team negotiating with Kaiser Permanente Northern California. They also want better protective gear, and better coverage if a nurse gets sick while caring for patients. “We are asking in our contract negotiations for an extra insurance policy,” she says. “We’d like to have an extra supplemental coverage, specifically for Ebola, if we were to contract Ebola while we’re at work.” Nurses’ medical costs are covered by workers’ compensation... |
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