Jenny Yang Sworn In as EEOC Commissioner Bipartisan Federal Agency Now at Full Strength

Jenny R. Yang was sworn in today as Commissioner of the U.S.  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Yang was nominated by President Obama on Aug. 2, 2012, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 25, 2013, to serve a term expiring July 1, 2017.

With her arrival, the EEOC returns to its full complement of five commissioners. Yang joins

ChairJacqueline Berrien and Commissioners Constance Barker, Chai Feldblum and Victoria Lipnic to complete the five-member presidentially appointed bipartisan Commission, filling the position vacated by Stuart Ishimaru.

"I am delighted to welcome Jenny Yang to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission," said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien. "Her expertise in employment discrimination law and experience as a litigator will be great assets to the agency, and I look forward to working with her and my other colleagues on the Commission to promote equal opportunity in the workplace."

Yang was a partner of Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC. She joined the firm in 2003, and she has represented thousands of employees across the country in numerous complex civil rights and employment actions. As chair of the firm's hiring and diversity committee, Yang has experience with the issues employers confront in making hiring and other personnel decisions.

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Yang served as a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section, where she enforced federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment by state and local government employers from 1998 to 2003. Before that, she worked at the National Employment Law Project to enforce the workplace rights of garment workers. Yang clerked for the Honorable Edmund Ludwig on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

"It is an incredible honor to serve as a Commissioner of the EEOC," said Commissioner Yang. "It is a privilege to work with so many talented and dedicated colleagues to ensure equal opportunity for all."

Yang previously served for over five years as vice chair and board member of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income Asian Pacific Americans and small business owners in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Yang received her B.A. from Cornell University in government. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a note and comment editor of the law review and a Root-Tilden public interest scholar. Yang and her husband, Kil Huh, director of the States' Fiscal Health Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, have two sons. She is the daughter The Honorable Sue Yang, Retired NJ Judge of Compensation.

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov

Obamacare Will Be Collecting Workers' Compensation Medical Records

The implementation of Affordable Care Act data collection regulations will include the collection of medical information concerning work related accidents and injuries.  The coalition of this information will broadly advance the concept of universal medical care and impose yet another route for the Centers for Medicare and Medicare to strengthen enforcement under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act.

The largest and most expansive database of personalized medical information is being established under the umbrella of an newly created unit under the authority granted to the Internal Revenue Service, The Federal Data Services Hub. Personal medical records, including electronic medical records, will be incorporated into the program. 

"On March 23, 2010, the President signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
(P.L. 111-148). On March 30, 2010, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 
(P.L. 111-152) was signed into law. The two laws are collectively referred to as the Affordable 
Care Act. The Affordable Care Act creates new competitive private health insurance markets –
called Exchanges – that will give millions of Americans and small businesses access to 
affordable coverage and the same insurance choices members of Congress will have. Exchanges 
will help individuals and small employers shop for, select, and enroll in high quality, affordable 
private health plans that fit their needs at competitive prices. The IT systems will support a 
simple and seamless identification of people who qualify for coverage through the Exchange, tax 
credits, cost-sharing reductions, Medicaid, and CHIP programs. By providing a place for onestop shopping, Exchanges will make purchasing health insurance easier and more understandable 
and will put greater control and more choice in the hands of individuals and small businesses."

Read more about "Federalization" and workers' compensation:

The Scarlet Letter - Workers' Compensation Style

Privacy, that was thought to be a paramount concern for individuals in workers' compensation, is now going away in Missouri. The Missouri legislature passed legislation that will allow employers to review the pending claim status of prospective employees to determine whether they have filed any workers' compensation claims. Injured workers in Missouri will now be stigmatized as a result of filing a workers' compensation claim.

"The division shall develop and maintain a workers' compensation claims database, accessible to potential employers through the division's website, containing all claims filed for compensation under this chapter. Claims records shall be retrievable only by an employer who during a pre-hire period provides a potential employee's name and social security number and shall, upon retrieval, identify the date of any claim made by such potential employee and whether the claim is open or closed."

To view the enacted bill SB34 go to www.moga.mo.gov

Related articles

• Do I Need To File A Tax Return On My Workers Compensation?
• Oklahoma Opt-Out Workers' Compensation Law Enacted
• Private Sector Workers Compensation Costs Down For 7th Year
• The National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary College
• Worker's Compensation Advocacy: Playing Fair in the Same Sandbox

Do I Need To File A Tax Return On My Workers Compensation?

Today's post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

If you received workers’ compensation benefits, you may be wondering if you will need to report this money to the IRS and pay taxes on it. Under the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Act, money that you receive as workers’ compensation benefits is not taxable, with a few exceptions. You will have to pay taxes on your work comp benefits if:

• if the benefits are retirement plan benefits (this is true even if you retired due to disability)
• if part of your workers’ compensation benefit money lowers the amount you receive from your Social Security or Railroad Retirement Benefits. In that case, that the part of your workers compensation benefits is considered part of your Social Security (or RRB) and may be taxable.

If you return to work, your salary will be taxable again, as is it was before you received workers’ compensation benefits.

State Law Does Not Preempt State Medical Authorization Criteria

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that The Texas Workers' Compensation Act does not preempt the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) 42 U.S.C.§ 1395y(b), as to the state statute's mandated requirement to obtain preauthorization for medical care. 

The Court ruled that.  "...Congress explicitly prohibited workers' compensation and other insurers from subordinating their payment obligations to those of Medicare." "....Congress intended the MSP to complement, not supplant, state workers' compensation rules."

Caldera v. Insurance Co, of the State of PA, ____ F.3rd ___, 2013 WL 1975660 C.A.5 (Tex), 2013. Decided May 14, 2013.

The Government Must Lead The Way in Workplace Health and Safety

The government must maintain a strong and credible roll in establishing and maintaining workplace health and safety. The tendency to yield to political and economic interests should avoided.

One area where the government is lacking is the establishment on a complete ban of the

use of asbestos containing products. It is far late in the game, but lives will be saved if in fact asbestos was banned. Additionally, government agencies should be insulated from political  from those interests that would sway them into the opposite area.

"Government has a responsibility to implement effective public health measures that increase the information available to the public and decision makers, protect people from harm, promote health, and create environments that support healthy behaviors. The health, financial, and productivity gains from public health actions benefit individuals and society as a whole."

Click here to read, "Government's Role in Protecting Health and Safety, "Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. N Engl J Med 2013; 368:1857-1859May 16, 2013DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1303819

Related articles

• OSHA Needs To Be Strengthened
• US Surgeon General Alerts Americans to the Hazards of Asbestos Disease
• OSHA Moves to Protect Temporary Workers
• Employer Fined $185,000 for Exposing Employees to Toxic Substances and Other Safety Isues
• Toxic Lead Exposure Results in OSHA Fines for NJ Company

The Attack on the Citadel: A Potential National Loss

Workers’ Compensation is conceptually changing, and its extinction is becoming more apparent rather than its transformation. Over the past decades, the “grand bargain” of Workers’ Compensation had evolved to ease the American industrial/manufacturing revolution forward, without burden from the economic complexities and ramifications of the Civil Justice System. 

“The Promise” made in 1911, with the adoption of the compensation system, is now past history. The demands of the globalized marketplace have eroded the fortress of workers’ compensation that protected the rights, safety and lives of American workers.

Dynamic developments, occurring at an ever increasing pace, have altered the landscape and accelerated a devastating attack on the citadel of workers’ compensation. The root of the cause is economic.