Joined by educators, medical professionals, parents, and school administrators, NJ Governor Phil Murphy today announced that all students, educators, staff, and visitors will be required to wear face masks indoors for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. The Governor signed Executive Order (EO) 251, which will mandate masking in the indoor premises of all public, private, and parochial preschool, elementary, and secondary school buildings, with limited exceptions. The EO is effective on Monday, August 9, 2021.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query misclassification. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query misclassification. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, August 14, 2021
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Federal Court Civil Action Stayed Pending Criminal Case
A civil action instituted by LM Insurance Corporation was stayed against a defendant employer pending a Federal criminal action. The application to stay the Federal civil action was made by the employer to the court following the issuance of multiple Grand Jury Subpoenas and the execution of a Search and Seizure Warrant against the defendant employer in his home and place of business.
Friday, October 11, 2013
AIG Facing Lawsuit for Fraud
Today's post is shared from Courthousenews.com.
American International Group for nearly 40 years has been underreporting workers' compensation premiums, causing insured employers to pay improperly inflated state insurance surcharges, three federal classes claim.
The coordinated suits were filed this week in San Francisco, Manhattan and Newarkagainst AIG and its subsidiaries and affiliates. AIG is accused of unfair business practices, fraud, unjust enrichment and violations of federal anti-racketeering law.
The California complaint, filed by Franjo Inc. and DMS Facility Services Inc., says it all began in the 1970s when AIG "devised, implemented, participated in, and carried out nationwide schemes - later characterized by AIG's own general counsel as 'permeated with illegality' - to miscategorize, falsely report, and falsely book the AIG companies' [workers' compensation] premium as other premium (for example, as 'general liability' premium), in order to reduce defendants' expenses, inflate their profits, and unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of plaintiffs and the class." (Parentheses in original.)
AIG allegedly falsified certified annual financial reports that underreported workers' compensation (WC) figures to evade its equitable shares of financial responsibility for state-levied taxes and assessments. It caused state insurance regulators, through no fault of their own, to assess artificially inflated fees on insured employers, according to the complaint.
Click here to read the entire article.
American International Group for nearly 40 years has been underreporting workers' compensation premiums, causing insured employers to pay improperly inflated state insurance surcharges, three federal classes claim.
The coordinated suits were filed this week in San Francisco, Manhattan and Newarkagainst AIG and its subsidiaries and affiliates. AIG is accused of unfair business practices, fraud, unjust enrichment and violations of federal anti-racketeering law.
The California complaint, filed by Franjo Inc. and DMS Facility Services Inc., says it all began in the 1970s when AIG "devised, implemented, participated in, and carried out nationwide schemes - later characterized by AIG's own general counsel as 'permeated with illegality' - to miscategorize, falsely report, and falsely book the AIG companies' [workers' compensation] premium as other premium (for example, as 'general liability' premium), in order to reduce defendants' expenses, inflate their profits, and unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of plaintiffs and the class." (Parentheses in original.)
AIG allegedly falsified certified annual financial reports that underreported workers' compensation (WC) figures to evade its equitable shares of financial responsibility for state-levied taxes and assessments. It caused state insurance regulators, through no fault of their own, to assess artificially inflated fees on insured employers, according to the complaint.
Click here to read the entire article.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Degree of Employer Control Determines Compensability in an Off-Premises Parking Lot Case
The NJ Supreme Court declared the nature of the employer's control determines compensability in an off-premises parking lot claim. The Court ruled that the NJ 1979 Legislative amendments mandate that the "coming and going" rule bars such a workers' compensation claim when an employee is injured on a public street while walking to and from a public parking lot.
The Court held that even though the employer provided a parking pass to the employee to park in the public lot, that since the employer did not own, maintain or exercise control over the lot nor the route that the employee must take in commuting to the employer's premises, the employee could not pursue a workers' compensation claim.
The element of "control" pervades many issues in workers' compensation including "employment status. NJ has "The Right to Control Test" that is utilized in determining the employment status of the employee.. This is been a major factor in misclassification of workers and the eligibility of workers' compensation cover.
Hersh v. County of Morris A-59 NJ Supreme Court, Decided April 1, 2014.
Note: This cases and others will be the subject the NJ Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar on June 18, 2014. Both Lewis Stein, Esq. and John R. Tort, Jr., Esq., who were the lead counsel representing the parties involved in the litigation, will participating in the upcoming seminar.
Click here to register today.
The Court held that even though the employer provided a parking pass to the employee to park in the public lot, that since the employer did not own, maintain or exercise control over the lot nor the route that the employee must take in commuting to the employer's premises, the employee could not pursue a workers' compensation claim.
The element of "control" pervades many issues in workers' compensation including "employment status. NJ has "The Right to Control Test" that is utilized in determining the employment status of the employee.. This is been a major factor in misclassification of workers and the eligibility of workers' compensation cover.
Hersh v. County of Morris A-59 NJ Supreme Court, Decided April 1, 2014.
Note: This cases and others will be the subject the NJ Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar on June 18, 2014. Both Lewis Stein, Esq. and John R. Tort, Jr., Esq., who were the lead counsel representing the parties involved in the litigation, will participating in the upcoming seminar.
Click here to register today.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Made in America: American Workers Honored on a USPS Commemorative Stamp
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| American Workers - USPS Stamp |
This issuance features five different panes, each with the same 12 stamps, but anchored by different selvage photos. Three of the selvage images and eleven of the black and white stamp images were taken by photographer Lewis Hine, a chronicler of early 20th-century industry.
The panes are designed in three rows of four stamps. In the top row are an airplane maker, a derrick man on the Empire State Building, a millinery apprentice, and a man on a hoisting ball on the Empire State Building. In the middle row are a linotyper in a publishing house, a welder on the Empire State Building, a coal miner, and riveters on the Empire State Building. (The coal miner stamp is the only one of the 12 that does not feature a Hine photograph. The image is from the Kansas State Historical Society.) In the bottom row are a powerhouse mechanic, a railroad track walker, a textile worker, and a man guiding a beam on the Empire State Building.
On the selvage, Hine's images include two Empire State Building iron workers and a General Electric worker measuring the bearings in a casting. The fourth selvage photograph is the same image of the coal miner that appears in the stamp pane. The final selvage photograph, taken by Margaret Bourke-White, depicts a female welder.
Derry Noyes was the project's art director and designer. The Made in America: Building a Nation stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive panes of 12. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
Made in the USA.
Issue Date: August 8, 2013
Friday, July 29, 2016
NY Governor Cuomo Announces New Ventilation Standards For Nail Salons
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that new ventilation requirements to protect workers and customers in nail salons statewide will go into effect this October. Nail salon ventilation systems must meet the standard set by the 2015 International Mechanical Code, which contains specific ventilation requirements for nail salons and any other businesses that provide nail services, such as hair salons.
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Top Blog Posts of 2023
It has been a busy year for the Workers' Compensation blog. This blog has had over 2 million views. Here is a list of the most popular posts in 2023.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, August 14, 2021
OSHA issues updated guidance on protecting unvaccinated and other at-risk workers from the coronavirus
U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued updated guidance to help employers protect workers from the coronavirus. The updated guidance reflects developments in science and data, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated COVID-19 guidance issued July 27.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
US Department Of Labor Announces Proposals To Rescind Two Rules That Undermine Worker Protections Against Unfair Pay Practices
The U.S. Department of Labor today announced proposals to rescind two final rules that would significantly weaken protections afforded to American workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Saturday, July 17, 2021
NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development Halts Work at Construction Site After Violations Found
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has again used its authority to stop work at a construction site at which subcontractors were found to be violating state labor laws.
Friday, July 30, 2021
To Mask or Un-mask: What the Delta Variant Means to You
Infectious disease experts discuss the issues of masking, the Delta variant, and predictions of COVID going forward. A panel discussion - 30 minutes. Broadcast, Thursday, July 29, 2021.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Medicare Classifies Over 9.6 Billion Each Year as Overpayments-Some Are Uncollectible
CMS identifies billions of dollars in Medicare overpayments to health care providers each year. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, overpayments totaled $9.6 billion. However, not all overpayments are recovered.
Overpayments for which the provider has not made a repayment for at least 6 months after
the due date on the Medicare demand letter are classified as "currently not collectible" (CNC) and are not reported on CMS's annual financial statements. These overpayments are not reported on the financial statements because they are likely not to be recovered.
CMS reported $543 million in new CNC overpayments across all contractors in FY 2010. However, CMS provided detailed information on $69 million in CNC overpayments for only seven contractors. Citing contractor transitions, CMS did not provide detailed data for the remaining 32 contractors. For 54 percent of CNC overpayments associated with the seven contractors, the provider type was missing in HIGLAS. For the seven contractors, 97 percent of FY 2010 CNC overpayments were not recovered. According to contractors, inaccurate provider contact information delays or prevents some overpayment demand letters from reaching providers. In addition, CMS and contractors reported that expanding the types of provider identifiers used to recover payments could improve debt collection efforts.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
California appeals court upholds verdict against Monsanto for Roundup exposure
The claims of occupational exposures of landscapers and groundskeepers to herbicides such as Roundup were received further support by a recent decision by the California Court of Appeals. The Court affirmed the verdict of the trial court upholding the finding causal relationship between the product and cancer.
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Social Security to be Depleted by 2033
The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2034, one year earlier than projected last year, with 78 percent of benefits payable at that time.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Sued Over Pay, Condé Nast Ends Internship Program
For Lauren Indvik, a business editor and soon-to-be co-editor in chief at Fashionista, the 2008 internship at Vogue was worth every sacrifice.
The 15 pounds frantically lost in the weeks before the interview. The predawn drive from New Hampshire to Times Square. The bed shared with a fellow penny-pinching friend near Pennsylvania Station, and the morning and evening walks — in heels — because she could not afford subway fare. “It’s so valuable,” she said. |
Friday, August 13, 2021
Justice Barrett denies an injunction against a vaccine mandate
Yesterday evening US Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied a request for a writ of injunction against a vaccine mandate. Students at the University of Indiana [IU] a Fourteenth Amendment challenge to the school’s requirement that all students receive a COVID vaccine.
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Methylene Chloride Continues to be a Fatal Hazard in the Workplace
Exposure to paint strippers containing methylene chloride remains a severe health concern for workers. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to extend the United States Environmental Protection [EPA] agency's regulations to cover methylene chloride in the commercial setting.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
OSHA: Corporate Fraud Contributed To Nation's Economic Problems
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will publish interim final rules in the Nov. 3 Federal Register that revise the regulations governing whistleblower complaints filed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The act protects employees of publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries, and of certain other employers, from retaliation for reporting mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud, violations of SEC rules or regulations, or violations of any provision of federal law relating to fraud against shareholders. OSHA is requesting public comment on the interim final rule.
"Fraudulent practices by publicly held corporations have contributed to the economic difficulties currently facing our nation," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "The best way to prevent this from happening in the future is to ensure that workers feel free to blow the whistle on corrupt corporate practices without fear of retaliation, and OSHA is committed to protecting the rights of those workers to speak out."
The whistleblower protection provisions of SOX were amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to clarify that subsidiaries of publicly traded companies are covered employers under the statute, and to add nationally recognized statistical rating organizations as covered employers. The 2010 amendments to SOX also extended the statute of limitations for filing a complaint from 90 to 180 days, among other changes. The new interim final rules implement these changes and aim to improve OSHA's procedures for handling complaints under SOX.
Among the changes to improve the complaint filing process, the revised rules will allow SOX complainants to file complaints orally and in any language, and enhance the sharing of information between parties throughout the investigation.
"The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their legal rights without fear of retaliation is crucial to many of the legal protections and safeguards that all Americans value," said Dr. Michaels. "In a continuing effort to improve the Whistleblower Protection Program and make the filing process easier, the rules have been updated to reflect the changes required by the statute."
The interim final rule can be viewed at http://s.dol.gov/JN. Comments, which must be received by Jan. 3, 2012, may be submitted electronically via the federal e-rulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov, or by mail or fax. Faxed submissions, including attachments, must not exceed 10 pages and should be sent to the OSHA Docket Office at 202-693-1648. Comments submitted by mail should be addressed to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2011-0126, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20210.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and 20 other statutes protecting employees who report reasonably perceived violations of various workplace, commercial motor vehicle, airline, nuclear, pipeline, environmental, railroad, public transportation, maritime, consumer product, health care reform, corporate securities, food safety and consumer financial reform regulations. Additional information is available at http://www.whistleblowers.gov.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Three Companies to Repay EPA for Costs of Cleaning Up Contaminated Site in Clifton, New Jersey
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced legal agreements with Clifton 2003, L.L.C, Hampshire Generational Fund, L.L.C and WEA Enterprises Co., Inc. to repay $2.1 million spent by the EPA to clean up contamination at Abrachem Chemical, a former bulk chemical packaging facility in Clifton, New Jersey. When the EPA began its investigation and cleanup of the site in 2008, it reeked of caustic chemicals and solvents that were leaking from rusted and mislabeled drums. Sampling of the contents of over 1,600 drums revealed the presence of hazardous materials, including corrosive and flammable chemicals, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and volatile organic chemicals. Exposure to these chemicals can have serious health impacts, including an increased risk of cancer.
“The legal agreements to recover the considerable costs of the Abrachem Chemical cleanup means that the responsible parties will bear the financial burden for cleaning up this site, not taxpayers, “ said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The Abrachem Chemical site was found in a horrible state of disrepair and posed serious risks to the health of people in the surrounding community. Today the site is cleaned up, people’s health has been protected, the property is being productively used for a new business and the responsible parties are footing the majority of the bill.”
After being contacted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 2008, the EPA conducted an initial investigation and found that Abrachem was improperly storing drums and bulk containers of known and unknown chemicals in seventeen, 43-foot long shipping containers and elsewhere on the property. Drums at the site were leaking and there was a strong chemical odor emanating from the facility. However, the EPA was unable to clean up the site because Clifton 2003, one of the site owners, refused to grant EPA full access to its property. In January 2009, the EPA got a warrant from a federal judge that allowed access to the property to start a cleanup.
The EPA first removed drums of the unknown chemicals from the shipping containers and moved them into the facility for staging and sampling to determine what they were. On several occasions over the course of the seven-month cleanup, areas of the surrounding community were evacuated with the assistance of local and state authorities when unknown and potentially explosive chemicals were discovered.
The EPA also identified the chemicals in the mislabeled drums and, when possible, identified where the drums had originated. Hundreds of containers were returned to their owners, while others were disposed of by the EPA at licensed hazardous waste disposal facilities out of the area. The floors inside the facility were washed and decontaminated and all debris and trash removed. The EPA completed its work in September 2009.
The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters, not taxpayers, should pay for the cleanups. The EPA works hard to recover taxpayer dollars spent on the cleanup of abandoned and polluted sites. In this instance, more than 82 percent of the costs will be repaid through EPA’s enforcement action and resulting agreements.
For more information including an archived 2009 video about the Abrachem site, visithttp://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/removal/abrachem/.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
Feb 02, 2011
Previous studies on the possible association between benzene exposure and lymphoma have been complicated by problems with exposure misclassification, outcome classification, and low statistical power. Vlaanderen et al.
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers' Compensation: Benzene Exposure Near the U.S. ...
Jun 16, 2010
Benzene appeared to increase the frequencies of aneuploid sperm for chromosomes associated with chromosomal abnormality syndromes in human offspring, even in men whose air benzene exposure was at or below the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers Compensation Benefits Awarded for Breast Cancer
Jan 12, 2011
The former firefighter alleged that she was exposed to benzene, a know carcinogen. One of her expert witnesses, Dr. James Melius, testified that, "Several studies have found occupational exposure to benzene to be ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Related stories:
“The legal agreements to recover the considerable costs of the Abrachem Chemical cleanup means that the responsible parties will bear the financial burden for cleaning up this site, not taxpayers, “ said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The Abrachem Chemical site was found in a horrible state of disrepair and posed serious risks to the health of people in the surrounding community. Today the site is cleaned up, people’s health has been protected, the property is being productively used for a new business and the responsible parties are footing the majority of the bill.”
After being contacted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 2008, the EPA conducted an initial investigation and found that Abrachem was improperly storing drums and bulk containers of known and unknown chemicals in seventeen, 43-foot long shipping containers and elsewhere on the property. Drums at the site were leaking and there was a strong chemical odor emanating from the facility. However, the EPA was unable to clean up the site because Clifton 2003, one of the site owners, refused to grant EPA full access to its property. In January 2009, the EPA got a warrant from a federal judge that allowed access to the property to start a cleanup.
The EPA first removed drums of the unknown chemicals from the shipping containers and moved them into the facility for staging and sampling to determine what they were. On several occasions over the course of the seven-month cleanup, areas of the surrounding community were evacuated with the assistance of local and state authorities when unknown and potentially explosive chemicals were discovered.
The EPA also identified the chemicals in the mislabeled drums and, when possible, identified where the drums had originated. Hundreds of containers were returned to their owners, while others were disposed of by the EPA at licensed hazardous waste disposal facilities out of the area. The floors inside the facility were washed and decontaminated and all debris and trash removed. The EPA completed its work in September 2009.
The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters, not taxpayers, should pay for the cleanups. The EPA works hard to recover taxpayer dollars spent on the cleanup of abandoned and polluted sites. In this instance, more than 82 percent of the costs will be repaid through EPA’s enforcement action and resulting agreements.
For more information including an archived 2009 video about the Abrachem site, visithttp://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/removal/abrachem/.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
Related stories:
Occupational Benzene Exposure and Lymphoma SubtypesFeb 02, 2011
Previous studies on the possible association between benzene exposure and lymphoma have been complicated by problems with exposure misclassification, outcome classification, and low statistical power. Vlaanderen et al.
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers' Compensation: Benzene Exposure Near the U.S. ...
Jun 16, 2010
Benzene appeared to increase the frequencies of aneuploid sperm for chromosomes associated with chromosomal abnormality syndromes in human offspring, even in men whose air benzene exposure was at or below the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers Compensation Benefits Awarded for Breast Cancer
Jan 12, 2011
The former firefighter alleged that she was exposed to benzene, a know carcinogen. One of her expert witnesses, Dr. James Melius, testified that, "Several studies have found occupational exposure to benzene to be ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Related stories:
Jan 16, 2014
That's because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has backed approving Nanosilva through conditional registration, a fast-track process that recently has drawn criticism for oversight problems. Unlike regular ...
Dec 13, 2013
More than 150 incidents of leaking or smoking ballasts have been reported to the EPA from New York and New Jersey schools over the past 15 months. PCBs may cause cancer and have been shown to cause a number of ...
Dec 14, 2013
Reallocating resources for enforcement, the US EPA will be targeting large industry for polluters. On the other side of the coin, the employees and potentially exposed bystanders, in smaller industries will potentially suffer ...
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Trending: Opting-Out of Workers' Compensation
Opting-out of workers' compensation coverage is now a significant national trend. The opt outs are both through a legitimate elective process and a de-facto scheme.
The opt-out process arose through a legislative process over a decade ago when Massachusetts legislation permitted the option to elect out of the mandatory workers' compensation system. Since then it has grown through both legitimate and illegitimate expansion. Some legislators have proposed that religious organizations should now be permitted to not obtain coverage.
In March the expanding trend to opt-out of the workers' compensation system took a major leap as large employers began to leave the system and offer less benefits to injured workers. Walmart, one of the largest employers in Texas has made the election to leave the system. Within the last two years other large employers have exited the system, including Target, seeking to reduce costs through a private non-workers' compensation plan.
Some states have reported increasingly high rates of uninsured workers. The enforcement and collection activities, are unfortunately both time consuming and expensive and are usually conducted after the fact.
A de-facto opt-out process is also occurring nationally through a process of misclassification of workers. Employees are designated by employers as independent contractors and consultants to avoid mandatory coverage and taxes. In North Carolina it has been reported that 30,000 business do not have mandatory workers' compensation coverage. The system attempts to avoid the tedious and time consuming process to seek workers' compensation benefits, and instead employees seek benefits from alternative sources including major medical plans, Medicare and social security. Temporary disability plans and major medical plans act as coverage for loss time and treatment. Employee are willing to fore go permanent disability inorder to get certain and immediate medical care and lost time benefits. Many employees have no idea that workers' compensation pays for permanent disability. The aging workforce assumes that Social Security Disability is a more user-friendly system to navigate.
The growing trend of opting out of the workers' compensation system is of concern to all. Why this is occurring in a system that was designed to protect both the worker and the employer needs to be identified and addressed.
The growing trend of opting out of the workers' compensation system is of concern to all. Why this is occurring in a system that was designed to protect both the worker and the employer needs to be identified and addressed.
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