The emasculation of the US workers' compensation system continues as the economic unbalance in the nation has escalates. Ironically the latest assault is a successful constitutional challenged by the organized bar of diminishing legal representatives of injured workers. The judicial decision may result in potential political upheaval as Florida is facing an upcoming gubernatorial election. More importantly the decision is yet another signal that workers' compensation as a social remedial legislation has failed to dynamically adapt to its changing role in the nation's evolving medical delivery network and disability benefit structure.
Today's post is shared from jurist.com
The 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida [official website] in Miami on Wednesday ruled [order, PDF] that Florida's workers' compensation law [text] is unconstitutional. Prior to the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi [official website] issued a response [text, PDF] to the court's order to show cause, asking the court to rule the law as unconstitutional in the form of an advisory opinion. In his ruling, Judge Jorge Cueto stated that the law is the exclusive remedy for injured workers, and therefore, only under rare circumstances can they sue their employers. Pursuant to Florida Supreme Court precedent, to be a constitutional worker's compensation act, it must provide some level of permanent partial disability benefit. Because it does not provide these remedies, the judge found that the act does is not an adequate replacement for the tort remedies that it supplanted.
Workers' rights continue to be an issue in the US. Last month, the US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [JURIST report] in eight cases, including Young v. United Parcel Service [docket; cert. petition, PDF]. In that case, the court will consider whether, and in what circumstances, an employer that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations must provide work accommodations to pregnant employees who are "similar in their ability or inability to work."
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
National Toxicology Program deems formaldehyde carcinogenic
| Today's post by Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter is shared from eenews.net The National Toxicology Program (NTP) declared today that formaldehyde -- a common ingredient in home building products -- causes cancer in humans. NTP, which is administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), listed formaldehyde as "known to be a human carcinogen" in the 12th edition of its "Report on Carcinogens." Formaldehyde had been listed in previous editions as "reasonably anticipated" to cause cancer. The classification is sure to add to the current debate surrounding formaldehyde and whether it should be more tightly regulated. U.S. EPA has released a draft assessment on the substance that labeled it carcinogenic -- a step toward tougher formaldehyde standards. Aspects of that report, however, were criticized by a National Academy of Sciences review, and industry has launched a significant lobbying effort against new formaldehyde regulations (Greenwire, April 8). The NTP and NAS reports both agreed with EPA that formaldehyde exposure can lead to cancers of the nose, nasal cavity and upper throat. The NTP report breaks with the NAS review, however, in saying that there is sufficient evidence that formaldehyde exposure causes myeloid leukemia. NTP acknowledged that there appear to be questions surrounding how formaldehyde affects human cells to produce myeloid leukemia, which was a major reason NAS disagreed with EPA's assessment. However, NTP said there are... |
Little evidence to support sleep/wake drugs for shift workers: study
Today's post was shared by Safe Healthy Workers and comes from in.reuters.com
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – - Many shift workers use over-the-counter and prescription drugs to stay awake or fall asleep at the appropriate times – but the evidence behind those practices is weak, researchers say. Use of these drugs for this purpose “has been studied to a very limited extent and the studies that have been published mostly have not been of sufficient quality to allow firm conclusions,” said Dr. David Neubauer, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center in Baltimore, Maryland. “Considering the large number of people who do shift work, it certainly is unfortunate that minimal research has been performed to offer clinical guidance to address the problems of inadequate alertness or sleepiness,” Neubauer, who was not involved with the new study, told Reuters Health by email. For the study, Dr. Juha Liira of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and colleagues gathered data from 15 trials involving 718 participants. The trials evaluated the effect of melatonin and hypnotic drugs on sleep after the shift, and the effect of modafinil, armodafinil and caffeine plus naps on sleepiness during the shift. They found that taking a nap and caffeine before a night shift may improve alertness, and daytime melatonin may add around 24 minutes of extra sleep during daylight hours, but the evidence is weak. For some workers, modafinil improves alertness at work but carries the risk of side effects like... |
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Thursday, August 14, 2014
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Today's post was shared by US Labor Department and comes from www.dol.gov
Held each October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is a national campaign that raises awareness about disability employment issues and celebrates the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities. The theme for 2014 is "Expect. Employ. Empower." NDEAM's roots go back to 1945, when Congress enacted a law declaring the first week in October each year "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week." In 1962, the word "physically" was removed to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to "National Disability Employment Awareness Month." Upon its establishment in 2001, ODEP assumed responsibility for NDEAM and has worked to expand its reach and scope ever since. |
WTC cleanup workers may renew health claims -U.S. appeals court
| Today's post is shared from Reuters.com A federal appeals court in New York has revived claims by 211 cleanup workers who sought compensation for their alleged exposure to toxic contaminants in buildings near the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said a lower court judge erred in dismissing the claims, after the workers had answered "none" when asked if they had been "diagnosed" with ailments, injuries or diseases. These workers were employed by cleaning companies hired by Verizon Communications Inc, Brookfield Properties and dozens of other owners of downtown Manhattan buildings damaged or destroyed in the attacks, the court said. "The fact that plaintiffs answered 'none' to the interrogatory was an insufficient basis, by itself, for a blanket conclusion that all 211 plaintiffs could not establish their claims against defendants as a matter of law," Circuit Judge Denny Chin wrote for a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel. Thursday's decision overturned an August 2012 dismissal of the claims by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan, who oversees much of the Sept. 11 litigation. Verizon spokesman Bob Varettoni had no immediate comment. Lawyers for the phone company and the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "I applaud the 2nd Circuit for having the ability and desire to do the right thing," Marc Bern, a lawyer for the workers, said in... |
Injured employees cheated by workers’ comp law, Miami-Dade judge says
| Today's post is shared from miamiherald.com A Miami judge declared Florida’s long-controversial workers’ compensation law unconstitutional Wednesday, saying successive state legislatures had so diminished medical care and wage-loss benefits for injured workers that the statute now violates employees’ “fundamental” rights. In a case involving a Miami-Dade County government office worker, Circuit Judge Jorge E. Cueto said the nearly 80-year-old law forces injured workers into a legal system that is so flawed it does not provide adequate medical care or dollars to replace lost wages. Under Florida law, workers have no choice but to seek benefits under the workers’ comp system. Except under rare circumstances, they cannot sue their employers. “The benefits in the act have been so decimated,” Cueto wrote, “that it no longer provides a reasonable alternative” to filing suit in civil court. Cueto’s ruling comes at a pivotal time for mostly blue-collar and agricultural workers in Florida: Lawmakers and business leaders say high workers’ compensation insurance premiums have threatened to derail the state’s economic growth, while worker advocates say the state has allowed widespread insurance fraud to fester while counteracting the high premiums by punishing workers. The controversy, which has simmered for years, is becoming increasingly prominent as worker rights lawyers ask judges, including those on the state’s highest court, to strike down the... |
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More.
| Swift Transportation’s 20,000 workers haul goods in almost 14,000 big-rig trucks that travel the interstates and back roads of the United States every day. The company’s performance is closely tied to the nation’s economy, which has been looking increasingly sunny lately. So it was surprising last month when Swift’s stock plummeted nearly 18 percent in a single day. The tumble came for an odd reason. It wasn’t because there was too little business — but rather, too much. “We were constrained by the challenging driver market,” the company said in its quarterly earnings announcement. “Our driver turnover and unseated truck count were higher than anticipated.” In other words, Swift had plenty of customers wanting to ship goods. But in a time of elevated unemployment, it somehow couldn’t find enough drivers to take those goods from Point A to Point B. How is that possible? The reasons for that conundrum tell us a great deal about what has been ailing American workers and why a full-throated economic recovery has been so slow in coming. Consider this: The American Trucking Associations has estimated that there was a shortage of 30,000 qualified drivers earlier this year, a number on track to rise to 200,000 over the next decade. Trucking companies are turning down business for want of workers. Yet the idea that there is a huge shortage of truck drivers flies in the face of a jobless rate of more than 6 percent, not to... |
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