U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Issues Update On Vaccinations

The following is shared from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission eeoc.gov 

COVID-19: A lesson for the workers’ compensation industry

Michael Lewis’s new book, The Premonition, is about three characters and their struggle to alert the Nation about the COVID-19 pandemic. The book offers a shocking insight into the mismanagement of the public health care system. The workers’ compensation industry lacked adequate information to prepare for the epidemic properly. It must address this deficiency in the future.

NJ Governor Murphy Signs the Healthy Terminals Act

NJ Governor Phil Murphy today signed the Healthy Terminals Act (S989) which creates new minimum wage and benefits requirements for certain Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Newark Liberty International Train Station workers. The legislation will expand access to livable wages and affordable health care for workers at the airport and train station who often cannot afford employer-provided health care plans.

NJ Supreme Holds Employers Responsible for Workers' Compensation Medical Marijuana Costs

The NJ Supreme has recognized that the workers’ compensation system has a legislative mandate to provide the safest medical care to cure and relieve occupational injuries. The Court acknowledged both state and Federal trends to provide non-addictive and non-fatal pain relief in place of the dangerous opioids. 

 

The intent that embraced the creation and development of the social insurance system has given the Court a rational and logical basis, consistent with public policy, to order medical marijuana for palliative care.

Rubio, Gillibrand Introduce Landmark Burn Pits Legislation to Help Veterans

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins Act. U.S. Representatives Raul Ruiz, M.D (D-CA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) will introduce the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would provide presumptive U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to servicemembers who have deployed and have illnesses due to exposure to burn pits and other toxins. Approximately 3.5 million veterans have been exposed to burn pits that spewed toxic fumes and carcinogens into the air.

Law Would Increase Transparency in the Workers’ Compensation Medical Delivery System

Senator Troy Singleton (NJ D-7) has introduced legislation that would increase transparency in medical treatment arising from workers’ compensation claims.

Cannabis Legislation Enacted in NJ

Today the NJ Legislature approved, and Governor Phil Murphy signed sweeping legislation to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. Today's action follows the legislative enactment of medical marijuana laws in NJ and case law approving medical marijuana for the treatment of work-related injuries.

OSHA Issues Biden-Harris Administration Guidance to Protect Workers from COVID-19

Today, OSHA issued the long-anticipated Biden-Harris Administration guidance to protect workers from COVID-19. The action is consistent with President Biden's recently issued Executive Order to protect workers and ensure a safer workplace environment.

Is the workers' compensation system ready for the COVID-19 [coronavirus] virus? Live Updates

It seems that every decade a new pandemic emerges on the world scene, and complacency continues to exist in the workers’ compensation arena to meet the emerging challenges of infectious disease.

NJ Governor Phil Murphy’s Conditional Veto Message on Senate Bill No. 2354

Pursuant to Article V, Section I, Paragraph 14 of the New Jersey Constitution, I am returning Senate Bill No. 2354 (Second Reprint) with my recommendations for reconsideration.

NCCI Reports: NJ Among the Top States with COVID-19 Workers' Compensation Claims

The National Council on Compensation Claims, Inc., [NCCI] has reported that the COVID-19 workers' compensation claims in the State of New Jersey number among the highest in the nation.

The COVID-19 Advisory Board and the Future of Workers’ Compensation

Today, the Biden-Harris Transition announced the formation of the Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, a team of leading public health experts who will advise President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, and the Transition’s COVID-19 staff. The Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board will be led by co-chairs Dr. David Kessler, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. Dr. Beth Cameron and Dr. Rebecca Katz are serving as advisors to the Transition on COVID-19 and will work closely with the Advisory Board.

Lessons from Asbestos Litigation Apply to COVID Claims

The rapid emergence of COVID-19 creates new challenges for the nation’s patchwork of state run workplace benefit delivery systems. This paper draws a comparison between COVID claims and asbestos claims, the “Largest and Longest” wave of occupational disease claims in the United States. The comparison offers insight into avoiding past economic, administrative and benefit delivery pitfalls. The lessons from asbestos claims provide an insight into maintaining a sustainable workers’ compensation system to meet the surge of COVID claims.

Health Care Experts Discuss a COVID Second Wave

How do we know when the second wave is starting? What should we expect? These are only two of the questions Dr. Chad Kessler, National Program Director for VHA Emergency Medicine, asked during a recent COVID in 20 interview with VA Infectious Disease and Epidemiology wizards, Michael A. Gelman, M.D., Ph.D., and Gio Baracco, M.D., from James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York and Miami VA Healthcare System in Miami, Florida respectively.

OSHA's vague COVID-19 reporting guidance

OSHA issued a COVID-19 reporting guidance that lacks a foundation in essential epidemiology as well as legal evidentiary principles for admissibility. It is doubtful that court of law would permit the guidance to be used for the determination of causal relationship.

Senators Call For Creation of New Workers Compensation Fund to Support Essential Frontline Workers

U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday wrote to Congressional leadership calling for the creation of a federal fund to reimburse essential frontline workers for costs incurred while serving the American public during the pandemic. The Essential Frontline Worker Compensation Fund would help workers safely stay on the job and afford medical costs, transportation, temporary housing, childcare, and care for other long-lasting traumas that may come with serving at the forefront of this pandemic – including testing positive for COVID-19.

Back to Work Needs Congressional Support

As employee and employers look to their state governor’s for direction upon return to work, an undiscussed issue remains, the responsibility for work-related occupational exposures. While this is new territory, one might look toward other potential mass exposure scenarios in the US history for guidance.

Health Care Workers Are at a Heightened COVID Risk - Updated 5/5/2020

A report published today by the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] highlights the increased risk of health care workers who are working so diligently on the frontlines in the effort to battle the COVID pandemic.

HHS Relaxes HIPAA Rules During COVID Pandemic

The US Department of Health and Human Services has published a “Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth Remote Communications During the COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency,” that eases the enforcement of medical record privacy. As workers’ compensation providers increasingly employ electronic communication with their patients, these rules will have a major impact on how medical care is provided.

NJ Cannabis Legal Protections Advance for Workers’ Compensation Medical Treatment

The NJ Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee reported favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 377.  As amended, this bill creates certain protections for insurers and insurance producers engaging in the business of insurance in connection with cannabis-related businesses.