OSHA Cites Company for Exposing Workers to Lightning Strikes

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited C.W. Hendrix Farms Inc. for failing to protect workers from recognized hazards after lightning struck and killed an employee at the Parkland, Florida, farm.

Taxi cab driver awarded workers compensation benefits

A New Jersey appellate court held that a taxi cab driver should be considered employee under both the "right to control test" and “the nature of the work test.” The Court further held that the parties are bound by a prior unreported decision from the appellate court since the parties were the same.

SCOTUS Upholds California Supreme Court: Lead Paint Manufacturers Liable for Over $400 Million

The US Supreme Court declined to review a California Supreme Court decision holding multiple lead paint manufacturers responsible for cleanup costs amounting to over $400 million. The longstanding litigation was brought under the theory that lead paint contamination was a public nuisance. Lead paint has been known for decades as toxic.

Virginia Holds Employer Liable for Household Contact Asbestos Exposure

An employer owes a duty of care to an employee’s family member who alleges exposure to asbestos from the work clothes of an employee, where the family member alleges the employer’s negligence allowed asbestos fibers to be regularly transported away from the place of employment to the employee’s home.

First Responder Workers' Compensation Benefits Bill Advances

A public hearing of a bill (A1741 and S716) advancing workers' compensation benefits for first responders will be held on October 18, 2018 at 10:00 am Committee Room 15, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ.

This bill creates a rebuttable presumption of workers’ compensation coverage for public safety workers and other employees in certain circumstances. The bill affirms that if, in the course of employment, a public safety worker is exposed to a serious communicable disease or a biological warfare or epidemic-related pathogen or biological toxin, all care or treatment of the worker, including services needed to ascertain whether the worker contracted the disease, shall be compensable under workers' compensation, even if the worker is found not to have contracted the disease.

Rand Study Urges National Workers’ Compensation Reforms

A national study by the Rand Corporation is urging changes to the workers’ compensation system. The study was commissioned by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and approaches necessary improvements inorder to make the nation’s workplaces safer.

Federal court permits employees to sue Givaudan for diacetyl exposure

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the manufacturer of diacetyl is not insulated from a lawsuit by exposed workers merely because their employer failed to warn them of the hazards of the substance.

Approximately 20 employees of ConAgra Brands (Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn plant) who were employed in Indiana. The workers developed a disease known as “popcorn lung,” an inflammatory lung disease known as bronchitis obliterans. The court declined to accept the defense of Givaudan Flavors Corp., the manufacturer, who alleged that the employer was a sophisticated user and should have been responsible to warm the employees of the hazard of the diacetyl.