Workers' Compensation

Thursday, May 31, 2012

California Settlement Protects Hair Salon Workers

A groundbreaking settlement between California’s Attorney General and manufacturers of Brazilian Blowout hair smoothing products that contain a cancer-causing chemical will help protect salon workers and consumers, according to the California Department of Public Health’s Occupational Health Branch.

The settlement with the manufacturer of Brazilian Blowout products requires the company to warn consumers and hair stylists that two of its hair smoothing products emit formaldehyde gas, which is known to cause cancer in humans. The company must also cease deceptive advertising; pay $600,000 in fees, penalties and costs; and report the presence of formaldehyde in its products to California Safe Cosmetics Program (CSCP) (http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/cosmetics/Pages/default.aspx). The warning requirements are the maximum penalty that could be achieved under state law.

The January 2012 settlement stemmed from complaints from hair stylists and customers that the product was causing symptoms, including nose bleeds, burning eyes and throat, skin irritation, and asthma attacks.

See http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/cosmetics/Documents/BrazilianBlowoutQA.pdf for more on Brazilian Blowout. Email OHW@cdph.ca.gov to subscribe to the monthly Occupational Health Watch e-newsletter.

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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 work related accident and injuries.

Home Hospitalization

An innovated path to medical care is the concept of home hospitalization. It provides both both patient comfort and cost saving. This approach, facilitated by the advent of telecommunications, is being advance in is now being expanded in many jurisdictions including: Illinois, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Minnesota.

With the soaring cost of workers' compensation payments now exceeding 50% of payments, new and innovative approaches are being advanced.

Click here to read more: Some Patients Can Choose To Be Hospitalized At Home

Related articles

China: Employer Pays Compensation After Murdering Employee

The family of a deceased migrant worker was compensation after street protests following the murder of the employee by the Chinese employer.

Click here to read more: Zhejiang protest ends with compensation deal

"Migrant workers' protests that broke out on Monday in east China's Zhejiang province following a peer's death have mostly come to an end and the family of the deceased has received 300,000 yuan (47,298) in compensation, local authorities said Tuesday."

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Advice needed so employers can reduce risk of female workers developing breast cancer

Commenting on a study published today (Tuesday) on the Occupational and Environmental Medicine website, which found that frequent night shifts are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'This study confirms previous research which has shown that shift work is now the second biggest cause of work-related cancer deaths after asbestos.

'We need urgent advice from the HSE and government so that employers can reduce the risk of female workers developing breast cancer, for example by indentifying safer shift patterns.'

- The study is available at http://press.psprings.co.uk/oem/may/oem100240.pdf

Breast cancer risk among women in the Danish military

"Conclusions The results indicate that frequent night
shift work increases the risk for breast cancer and
suggest a higher risk with longer duration of intense
night shifts. Women with morning preference who
worked on night shifts tended to have a higher risk than
those with evening preference."

Paying For Occupational Medical Care

A recent report in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine disclosed that the Government and US Taxpayer are paying the majority of the costs for occupational medical care. Even though workers' compensation insurance was designed to pay for such coverage, the majority of the bills incurred for work related accidents and injuries are actually paid by other sources.

Click here to read: Most occupational injury and illness costs are paid by the government and private payers

"UC Davis researchers have found that workers' compensation insurance is not used nearly as much as it should be to cover the nation's multi-billion dollar price tag for workplace illnesses and injuries. Instead, almost 80 percent of these costs are paid by employer-provided health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other disability funds, employees and other payers."

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Law Firm Prosperity California Style-Post Dewey & LeBoeuf

Guest Blog by

David Depaolo*

Across the nation the decline in work comp claims have caused scale back in law firms for both injured workers and carrier defense … except in California.

Applicant firms (as they are called in California) have not seen much if any attrition since 2004,when the Terminator reforms were instigated, and several have actually expanded taking up the slack of the less dedicated firms.

Defense firms have exploded with more and more defense attorneys being hired and more and more defense billable hours being charged since the prosperous 1980s.

The reason appears to be unsettled law just now coming to a point of stabilization and ancillary issues that have been generated as a consequence of regulatory changes - e.g. California's "lien laws" have created increased litigation as, in my opinion, short-sighted regulators implement strategies to treat the symptoms rather than the underlying disease.

The Dewey & LeBoeuf bankruptcy was a long time coming as the firm simply failed to curtail its spending and partner dividends when clients were pulling back in the face of the recession.

So I don't see Dewey & LeBoeuf as really representative of lower work comp filing rates.

David DePaolo is CEO, President, Editor-in-Chief of WorkCompCentral. He holds a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law (1984), a Masters in Business Administration from California Lutheran University (1997) and a Bachelor of Arts, English, from San Diego State University (1981). Mr. DePaolo is a frequent lecturer and author his own blog, DePaolo's Work Comp World.

Kim Presbrey, A Founder of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group

Injured workers and their representatives lost a leader of the legal profession with the passing of Kim Presbrey of Illinois. Kim was one of the charter founders of the Workplace Injury Workers Litigation Group (WILG).

Throughout his career, Kim sought justice for his clients. He assisted other attorneys through his guiding leadership to advance the interests of a safer work environment.

My friendship with Kim began in the formative days of WILG and lasted throughout his entire career. He would often zealously call me late at night on the weekend just to keep me updated on important issues concerning workers' compensation so that readers of this blog could be updated on urgent developments of major significance.

Kim's passing is a major loss to the workers' compensation community. Our sincere sympathies go out to his family and friends, all of which he dearly loved.

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