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Sunday, December 28, 2014
Zadroga fund payouts to 9/11 responders gain speed as claims process gets 'better'
Nell McCarthy, the deputy special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, pointed to two boxes. One contained files about 2 inches thick; the other, a file about 2 feet thick.
That, she said in the fund's nondescript Washington, D.C., offices, showed the range of differences among claims filed by 9/11 responders.
The thinner file was submitted online by a former first responder in law enforcement who had hired an experienced lawyer. The second was filed by a former deliveryman for a restaurant -- with no attorney -- and included entire notebooks containing handwritten statements in nearly indecipherable block printing that often spilled over and encircled the pages.
Both received compensation, McCarthy said. But the first -- who recently died of brain cancer -- was a fairly straightforward case and it took eight months to determine his compensation. The second -- who for a time called the VCF help line every day, even on the weekends -- was not so straightforward. That claim took 2½ years to resolve.
"I am really proud of the work we did with him," McCarthy said of the second claimant, who still calls the VCF.
McCarthy -- a former White House staffer who herself was a block from Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001 -- was hired in April to help expedite claims for ailing responders under the $2.775 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. The VCF had come under heavy criticism for the...
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Gov. Chris Christie and NJ Workers' Compensation: Declining Approval
NJ continues with high unemployment, a failing infrastructure, steep taxes, a mass migration of both Industry and Labor out-of-the state, high debt, and declining public pension reserves. The State continues with a spiraling rate of income inequality that reflects high and almost unobtainable maximum workers' compensation rates for the vast majority of low and middle income wage earners.
The State's antiquated workers' compensation system continues with a reverse social security offset that favors insurance companies to the detriment of the nation's taxpayers. NJ administratively refuses to allow COLA increases under the Triennial Redetermination Social Security program to those totally disabled workers who receive benefits and NJ continues to allow insurance companies and employers to reap benefits at the detriment of injured employers. NJ still maintains an antiquate, objectionable, obsolescent and costly Second Injury Fund for pre-existing injuries when the vast majority of states have terminated such programs.
Additionally, NJ, that lacks a medical provider fee schedule, continues to control medical treatment by requiring injured workers to obtain only employer authorized medical care and prohibits injured workers freedom to choose their own medical providers.
Unproductive bullying of the public at the NJ Governor's "town hall meetings" has become a trademark of his administration. The excitement and approval of "the entertainment value" of those events in the past caught the attention of the public at the emergence of his administration and allowed him to gain popularity. That has now faded has Governor Christie's public approval, according to recent polls in NJ, is declining.
In the meantime, Gov. Christie criticizes NJ workers' compensation and lacks an announced plan to correct the ailing system.
“'We’re going to be coming up with a package of proposals that’s going to work both sides of that,' Christie told a caller on his monthly NJ 101.5 FM radio show tonight.
'The employers who may not be stepping up and meeting their obligations and also the employees who are committing fraud on the worker’s comp system,' he said."
When the Chris Christie-for-president chatter first started, in 2011, voters in his home state of New Jersey took pride in having a celebrity governor. As Nancy Reagan escorted Mr. Christie to his speech at her husband’s presidential library, and hedge fund billionaires, The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages urged him to run, his approval ratings jumped. Voters told pollsters the national attention made him more effective, and improved their state’s long-maligned image.
Four years later, with Governor Christie again considering a run for president, his constituents appear to be tiring of the whole routine.
Polls taken over the last three months reveal a list of home-state complaints: Mr. Christie’s favorability is at its lowest point, with more voters disapproving than approving of his job performance. New Jersey residents think he is making decisions with an eye on his national standing rather than on what is good for their state. They do not think he should run for president — they are, as the slogan goes, ready for Hillary — but most expect he will, and want him to resign if he does. Political talk in New Jersey centers less on Mr. Christie running for president and more on which one of three Democrats quietly seeking to succeed him will win — even though that election is three years away.
Click here to read the entire NY Times article.
Related articles
- NJ Governor Christie to Propose Workers' Compensation Reform (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Governor Christie Vetoes First Responder Workers' Compensation Bill (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Who had the worst week in Washington? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Christie Vetoes Bill That Would Have Prevented Some Truck Drivers From Being Treated As Independent Contractors (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Using Workers' Compensation Records for Safety and Health Research (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
New York State Department of Health Completes Review of High-volume Hydraulic Fracturing
"I have considered all of the data and find significant questions and risks to public health which as of yet are unanswered," said Dr. Zucker. "I think it would be reckless to proceed in New York until more authoritative research is done. I asked myself, 'would I let my family live in a community with fracking?' The answer is no. I therefore cannot recommend anyone else's family to live in such a community either."
In 2012, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens asked the DOH Commissioner to conduct a review of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement for High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (SGEIS). Dr. Zucker's report fulfills that request.
As a result of Dr. Zucker's report, Commissioner Martens stated at the Cabinet Meeting today that he will issue a legally binding findings statement that will prohibit HVHF in New York State at this time.
"For the past six years, DEC has...
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Rlated articles
- Fracking: NY State Report Reveals Significant Health Uncertainties (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Cuomo and Christie's Ebola Tag-Team (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Employer Fraud and Recommendations from New York State Supreme Court's Grand Jury Report (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- New York State is committed to improving outdated workers' compensation system (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- NJ Company Found Guilty of Dumping Asbestos into Wetlands in Upstate New York (workers-compensation.blogspot.com
)
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Overtime bonanza at Port Authority; 13 officers set to make more than agency’s director
Three years after New York State issued a scathing report criticizing what it characterized as excessive overtime at the Port Authority, 131 of the agency’s employees worked so much overtime in the first nine months of this year that they already more than doubled their annual base salaries. Thirteen agency police officers received more in salary, overtime and other payments in that period than did Executive Director Patrick Foye, whose annual salary is $289,000. Most of the top overtime earners are police officers, including one who has been averaging an estimated 100 hours of work a week this year, including 60 hours of overtime. That is the equivalent of working more than 14 hours a day, seven days a week. The top 10 overtime earners are averaging an estimated 46 extra hours each week, a workload that experts say raises questions about efficiency and public safety, and is quite high even in a profession where significant overtime is routine. The legislatures in both New Jersey and New York have passed identical bills that call for sweeping changes in the way the agency operates, but neither Governor Christie nor New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated whether he will sign the legislation. Cuomo faces a critical deadline: He must decide by Saturday. Christie must decide by mid-January. Both states... |
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- Ex-Port Authority head ends suit over ethics probe (newsday.com)
- Construction Industry Council President Ross Pepe Comments on $511 Million in EFC Loans to the Construction of the New Tappan Zee Bridge (prweb.com)
- Ex-Port Authority head ends suit over ethics probe (sfgate.com)
- Lincoln Tunnel on Crosscurrents, 12/22 (ktoo.org)
- EDITORIAL: Port Authority lacks transparency; Governors should sign reform bills (poststar.com)
- Ex-port Authority Official Sues Over Ethics Probe (theepochtimes.com)
- Suburban Transit bus driver retires after 43 years (7online.com)
Christie, Cuomo veto N.J.-N.Y. Port Authority overhaul
Today's post os shared from northjersey.com The governors of New Jersey and New York late Saturday vetoed legislation passed unanimously by each state's legislature to overhaul the operations of the Port Authority, and instead endorsed their own plan to revamp the troubled bistate agency. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, had until Saturday to take action on the legislation, which needed the signature of each state's governor. About 6 p.m., Cuomo and Gov. Christie, a Republican, jointly released and endorsed a 103-page report compiled by a special panel the governors convened in May in the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge scandal, which laid bare cross-Hudson rivalries among leaders of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Christie and Cuomo proposed changes to the authority's governance structure and recommended modernizing its commerce facilities, among other ideas. Their actions were immediately criticized by New Jersey lawmakers who said the vetoes wrongly delayed an overhaul of an agency that has come under penetrating scrutiny since January, when documents surfaced linking two former Christie allies to the lane closures at the center of the bridge scandal. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark is investigating the September 2013 lane closures, which snarled traffic... |
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- Overtime bonanza at Port Authority; 13 officers set to make more than agency's director (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Ebola Policies Made in Panic Cause More Damage (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Cuomo and Christie Order Strict Ebola Quarantines (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Cuomo's and Christie's Shifts on Ebola Are Criticized as Politics, Not Science (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- United Airlines plane returns to Newark Airport after strong turbulence; 5 flight attendants hurt (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Cuomo and Christie's Ebola Tag-Team (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- NY unlikely to face lawsuits over fracking ban, experts say (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Twenty states will raise their minimum wage on Jan. 1
The minimum wage will rise in 20 states and the District of Columbia on Thursday, as laws and automatic adjustments are made with the start of the new year. In nine states, the hike will be automatic, an adjustment made to keep the minimum wage in line with rising inflation. But in 11 states and D.C., the rise is the result of legislative action or voter-approved referenda, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Two more states — Delaware and Minnesota — will get legislatively driven hikes later in the year. Twenty-nine states will have minimum wages above the federal minimum of $7.25. The size of the hikes range from 12 cents in Florida to $1.25 in South Dakota. Among those states hiking the minimum wage, Washington state’s will be highest at $9.47. Oregon’s is next at $9.25., followed by Vermont and Connecticut at $9.15. Massachusetts and Rhode Island will have $9 minimum wages. Of the states where the minimum wage is rising due to legislative or voter action, five — Alaska, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Vermont — and D.C. will also newly implement inflation indexing, bringing the number of states that tie future minimum wage hikes to inflation to 15. The minimum wage hikes will have a direct impact for nearly 2.3 million workers who currently earn less per hour than the new minimum wage. EPI estimates that an additional roughly 900,000 people would be affected indirectly, as... |
U.S. Alerts Public to Guardrails That Plaintiffs Say Turn Into Spears on Impact
Today's post is shared from Bloomberg,com/ A U.S. highway regulator opened an Internet portal this week allowing the public to report accidents tied to a Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN) guardrail system, which has been linked by lawsuits to at least eight deaths. The Federal Highway Administration’s move is the latest sign of intensifying government scrutiny of Trinity and its shock-absorbing guardrail end-terminal, the ET-Plus. Drivers and their families have claimed that the system can seize up on impact, spearing cars instead of giving way as intended. Earlier this month, the highway agency told U.S. lawmakers it would consider mandating additional crash tests on the system if it finds the current round, which started Dec. 10, isn’t sufficient. One of those lawmakers, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said he plans to press Trinity in the new year for accountability over undocumented changes it may have made to the ET-Plus. Blumenthal, a Democrat, has joined the FHWA in asking whether Dallas-based Trinity quietly adjusted the dimensions of its system. Such a revision would represent the third version of the end-terminal since Trinity introduced it in 2000. The company admitted once already to changing the ET-Plus in 2005 and not telling the agency. It has denied allegations in lawsuits that the modified, second version poses an unnecessary danger to crashing... |
Read more about Guardrail Safety fro the Federal Highway Administration:
- FHWA Federal Register Notice requesting credible data on the ET-Plus Guardrail End Terminal, December 24, 2014
- 005 Crashworthiness Tests: ET-Plus Guardrail End Terminal System, December 16, 2014
- Guardrail 101 - Purpose, Function and Crashworthiness of Guardrails, December 10, 2014 (PDF, 487 KB)
- ET-Plus Retesting Information, December 10, 2014
- Memorandum - ACTION: E- Plus W-Beam Guardrail Terminal, October 10, 2014
Attachments:
- Letter from FHWA to Trinity Highway Products, LLC, October 21, 2014
- Trinity Highway Products Work Plan for Crash Test of the ET-Plus with 4-inch Guide Channels, October 31, 2014
- FHWA Response to the Work Plan, November 4, 2014
- Letter from Trinity Highway Products, LLC to FHWA, November 6, 2014
- Trinity Highway Products Work Plan for Crash Test of the ET-Plus with 4-inch Guide Channels, November 6, 2014
- Letter from FHWA to Trinity Highway Products, LLC, November 12, 2014
- Trinity ET-Plus Re-Testing/Guardrail End Terminal Safety - FAQ
- Crash Test Plan for the ET-Plus Guardrail End Terminal - FAQ
Related articles
- U.S. Alerts Public to Guardrails That Plaintiffs Say Turn Into Spears on Impact (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Sunset on the Pacific Coast Highway (jongelman.blogspot.com)
- One in four of controversial guardrails in state located in South Florida (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Guardrail Maker Trinity Industries Conducts More Tests for Malfunction (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- 2014 Worldwide Photo Walk (kelbyone.com)
Fracking: NY State Report Reveals Significant Health Uncertainties
regarding the relative contributions of positive and negative impacts of HVHF* on public
health is unlikely to ever be attained. In this instance, however, the overall weight of the
evidence from the cumulative body of information contained in this Public Health
Review demonstrates that there are significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse
health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF, the likelihood of the occurrence of
adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in
reducing or preventing environmental impacts which could adversely affect public
health. Until the science provides sufficient information to determine the level of risk to
public health from HVHF to all New Yorkers and whether the risks can be adequately
managed, DOH recommends that HVHF should not proceed in New York State."
*high volume hydraulic fracturing
Click here to read the entire report.
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- Citing Health Risks, Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York State (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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- Cuomo and Christie's Ebola Tag-Team (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- New York State Is Set to Loosen Marijuana Laws (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- NY unlikely to face lawsuits over fracking ban, experts say (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Notable Absence of New Ebola Quarantines at New York Area Airports (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- People near 'fracking' wells report health woes (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Friday, December 26, 2014
Coal ash is not hazardous waste under U.S. agency rules
In a disappointment to environmentalists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued rules on Friday labeling coal ash, a byproduct of coal-based power production containing toxic materials such as arsenic and lead, as non-hazardous waste.
The label means that states and environmental groups taking legal action, and not the EPA, will be the primary enforcers of the first-ever federal rules targeting coal ash, which will require the closure of some coal ash holding ponds leaking contaminants into surrounding water but will not cover others.
Also critical of the new rules were some Republican lawmakers, who said they will prove harmful to the economy.
"This rule is a huge step forward in our effort to protect communities from coal ash storage impoundment failures as well as the improper management and disposal of coal ash in general," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters.
The agency first proposed rules governing coal ash storage in 2010, in the wake of a massive spill at a ruptured holding pond in Tennessee that has cost more than $1 billion to clean up. The process took on renewed urgency with another large-scale breach at a pond in North Carolina in February.
Environmental groups expressed disappointment with the long-anticipated rules, which do not require the phase-out of all the hundreds of existing holding ponds and do not prohibit new coal ash from being disposed of in them.
Click here to read the complete article.
Related articles
- EPA's New Rules Say Coal Ash Is Not Hazardous Waste (nbcnews.com)
- Mercury: EPA Adds Pierson's Creek Site in Newark, NJ to the Federal Superfund List (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Three Companies to Repay EPA for Costs of Cleaning Up Contaminated Site in Clifton, New Jersey (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- EPA Obtains Warrant to Address Over 1000 Drums and Containers at New Jersey Facility; Ongoing Investigation Reveals Presence of Hazardous Materials (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- East Penn board accused of asbestos cover-up (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Seven Acre Site along the Passaic River Contaminated with PCBs and Volatile Organic Compounds (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Ebola Doctor Makes Tough Choice To Save The Lives Of Two Colleagues
Dr. Lance Plyler prayed. He had a choice to make. Two colleagues at a hospital in Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were battling the deadly Ebola virus. The air ambulance had turned back with a mechanical problem, and Plyler feared they wouldn't survive much longer. Against the odds, the medical missionary from North Carolina had managed to find some of the last available supplies of a promising new drug, ZMapp, in neighboring Sierra Leone.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Ebola Sample Is Mishandled at C.D.C. Lab in Latest Error
A laboratory mistake at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta may have exposed a technician to the deadly Ebola virus, federal officials said on Wednesday. The technician will be monitored for signs of infection for 21 days, the incubation period of the disease. Word of the accident provoked concern and disbelief from some safety experts. Dangerous samples of anthrax and flu were similarly mishandled at the C.D.C. just months ago, eroding confidence in an agency that has long been one of the most respected research centers in the world. Other employees who entered the lab where the mistake occurred were being examined for possible exposure. There are fewer than a dozen, and so far it appears that none were infected, said Thomas Skinner, a C.D.C. spokesman. The samples were properly contained and never left the C.D.C. campus, so there is no risk to the public, officials said. The error occurred on Monday, when a high-security lab, working with Ebola virus from the epidemic in West Africa, sent samples that should have contained killed virus to another C.D.C. laboratory, down the hall. But the first lab sent the wrong samples — ones that may have contained the live virus. The second lab was not equipped to handle live Ebola. The technician there who worked with the samples wore gloves and a gown, but no face shield, and may have been exposed. The mixup was discovered on Tuesday, Dr. Stuart Nichol, chief of the C.D.C.’s Viral Special Pathogens... |
Will leadership shakeup help Takata tackle airbag safety concerns?
GWEN IFILL: It’s been a record year for auto recalls, with disturbing stories about deaths, injuries and warning signs that were either missed or ignored by manufacturers and the government. One of the biggest recalls of the year involved air bags in more than 24 million vehicles from a dozen automakers. But the manufacturer of the air bags, Takata Corporation, has resisted calls to do more. And, today, its president stepped down. Hari Sreenivasan picks up the story from there. HARI SREENIVASAN: Today’s change is the biggest move inside Takata since the troubles became well known. Stefan Stocker, the company’s first non-Japanese president, will be replaced by the company’s chairman and CEO, Shigehisa Takada. He’s the grandson of the company’s founder. But does the move help Takata deal with much bigger concerns over safety and get out from the cloud that has hung over the business since the reports began? David Shepardson of The Detroit News has been covering this story, joins me from Grand Rapids, Michigan. So why did they finally make this move? DAVID SHEPARDSON, The Detroit News: Well, I think this is clearly another indication of Mr. Takada and the family exerting more control over the company’s operations. As you said, Mr. Stocker was the first non-Japanese president of the company. And over the last 10 months, as the company has seen tens of millions of vehicles recalled around the globe, it’s raised the... |
Strong Safety Rules for Taxis and Uber
Popular and fast-growing companies like Uber and Lyft have advertised themselves as superior in nearly every way to traditional taxi services. Not least among these lofty claims is the assertion that they are safer than taxis. This may or may not be true. What is true is that Uber and Lyft generally do not require their drivers to submit to the kinds of background checks that local and state regulators require for taxi operators. These companies can hardly claim to be a cut above the others when they have failed to meet even baseline standards. The importance of strong background checks was underscored by news that a driver working for Uber in New Delhi has been accused of raping a passenger. In San Francisco, a driver who was working for Uber struck and killed a 6-year-old girl last year on New Year’s Eve. In both cases, the drivers had driving or arrest records that should have sent up red flags. (Uber has said it does not conduct criminal background checks on drivers it uses in India and has suspended its service in Delhi while it reviews that policy.) Companies like Uber and Lyft insist that they screen drivers carefully and that the private security firms they use are as good or better than the traditional fingerprint-based background checks regulators have long used. The security firms, they say, check driving histories, court files, sex-offender registries and other public records. Such background checks, Uber and Lyft argue, can be completed in a day or two,... |
As Docs Face Big Cuts In Medicaid Pay, Patients May Pay The Price
Andy Pasternak, a family doctor in Reno, Nev., has seen more than 100 new Medicaid patients this year after the state expanded the insurance program under the Affordable Care Act. But he won’t be taking any new ones after Dec. 31. That’s when the law’s two-year pay raise for primary care doctors like him who see Medicaid patients expires, resulting in fee reductions of 43 percent on average across the country, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute. “I don’t want to do this,” Pasternak said about his refusal to see more Medicaid patients next year. But when the temporary pay raise goes away, he and other Nevada doctors will see their fees drop from $75 on average to less than $50 for routine office visits. “We will lose money when they come to the office,” he said. Experts fear other doctors will respond the same way as Pasternak, making it harder for millions of poor Americans to find doctors. The pay raise was intended to entice more physicians to treat patients as the program expanded in many states. In the last year, Medicaid enrollment grew by almost 10 million and now covers more than 68 million people nationwide. The challenge is to convince physicians not just to continue accepting such patients but to take on more without getting paid what they’re used to, said Dr. J. Mario Molina, CEO of Molina Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest Medicaid insurers. Charles Duarte, CEO of a large community... |
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
CDC worker monitored for possible Ebola exposure in lab error
A laboratory technician for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been placed under observation for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus due to an apparent mix-up in lab specimens, the Atlanta-based agency said on Wednesday.
The technician, who was working on Monday with Ebola specimens that were supposed to have been inactivated but which may instead have contained live virus, will be monitored for signs of infection for 21 days, the disease's incubation period, CDC officials said.
The error follows two high-profile cases of mishandled samples of anthrax and avian influenza at the CDC earlier this year that called into question safety practices at the highly respected research institute and drew criticism from Capitol Hill.
CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds told Reuters the technician's risk of exposure to Ebola, even if the virus were active, was believed to be low and that the worker was not being quarantined while under observation.
She said a small number of other CDC employees who entered the lab where the samples in question were handled also "were assessed and none require monitoring."
"There was no possible exposure outside the secure laboratory at CDC and no exposure or risk to the public," the agency said in a statement. Lab scientists discovered on Tuesday what had transpired, and reported it to superiors within an hour, it said.
The problem occurred when active Ebola virus samples were believed to have been mixed up with specimens that had been rendered inactive for further testing in a lower-security lab down the hall, Reynolds said.
When inactivated specimens turned up the next day in storage, lab personnel realized that they apparently had transferred the wrong samples, ones that had contained active virus material, out of the higher-security lab, Reynolds said.
CDC officials could not be certain because the material in question had by then been destroyed and the lower-security lab decontaminated under routine safety procedures, she said.
Newt Gingrich Is Back: Now Wants To Protect Workers From Unions
Pro-employee rights candidates now hold majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, and it’s time for Congress to deliver the pro-employee agenda that has gained so much momentum in the states. Here’s how members can enhance employee rights in the workplace.
The best legislative vehicle for advancing those rights is the Employee Rights Act (ERA). Led by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the ERA has 29 co-sponsors in the Senate and more than 100 in the House. It’s the most significant rewrite of the National Labor Relations Act in decades, with a twist: Instead of the gridlock that comes with trying to rig labor law to benefit either unions or employers, it focuses squarely on the rights of the employees. (All of the law’s provisions can be viewed at EmployeeRightsAct.com.)
Take...
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Florida has a Large Percentage of Medicare's top "Controlled-Drug" Prescribers
Today's post is authored by Judge David Langham and shared from flojcc.blogspot.com/ A story was recently published on the WUSF website, Health News Florida. It says that the "prolific prescribers" of some medications are facing "Medicare scrutiny." A chart in the story reflects the distribution of 192 top prescribing medical providers in 12 states. Of these, 52, or 27% are located here in the Sunshine State. The article notes that in 2012, "Medicare covered nearly 27 million prescriptions for powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants with the highest potential for abuse and dependence." Despite efforts at addressing narcotic use, the article notes that this was a "9 percent" increase compared to 2011. Thankfully, though Florida has the largest volume of providers represented in this chart, the top prescriber is not in Florida. Dr. Shelinder Aggarwal of Huntsville, Alabama has that distinction. He prescribed "more than 14,000 Schedule 2 prescriptions in 2012." This amounted to "more than 80 percent of his Medicare patients" receiving "at least one prescription for a Schedule 2 drug, in many cases oxycodone."Apparently he is no longer a physician, the article notes he "surrendered his medical license" in 2013. The prescription practices are a "real area of concern" for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to the director, quoted in the article. The article suggests that data in existing resources can... |
Lawyers: A Vanishing Breed
"No one is going to law school. Fewer people enrolled in law school this year than at any point in the last four decades. The number of first-year law students has declined by 28 percent since 2010, hitting a historic low of less than 38,000 in 2014. That might have something to do with their dimming job prospects. "
Click here to read "The 9 Worst Questions Your Parents Will Ask You This Week, and the Data You Need to Answer Them" businessweek.com
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Where the Workers' Compensation Medical Dollar Goes in Florida
"Medical cost drivers, particularly in the areas of drugs, hospital inpatient, hospital
outpatient and ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) are noticeably higher in Florida than a
countrywide average. Legislative reform in the reimbursement of these services could
produce substantial savings for Florida employers. "
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Workers’ Compensation Annual Report December 2014
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Defense Base Act Claims: More Private Military Contractors Head for Iraq
The U.S. government is preparing to boost the number of private contractors in Iraq as part of President Barack Obama's growing effort to beat back Islamic State militants threatening the Baghdad government, a senior U.S. official said. How many contractors will deploy to Iraq - beyond the roughly 1,800 now working there for the U.S. State Department - will depend in part, the official said, on how widely dispersed U.S. troops advising Iraqi security forces are, and how far they are from U.S. diplomatic facilities. Still, the preparations to increase the number of contractors - who can be responsible for everything from security to vehicle repair and food service - underscores Obama's growing commitment in Iraq. When U.S. troops and diplomats venture into war zones, contractors tend to follow, doing jobs once handled by the military itself. "It is certain that there will have to be some number of contractors brought in for additional support," said the senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. After Islamic State seized large swaths of Iraqi territory and the major city of Mosul in June, Obama ordered U.S. troops back to Iraq. Last month, he authorized roughly... |
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Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Union Leaders Attacked at Bangladesh Garment Factories, Investigations Show
The garment factory’s closed-circuit camera captured some unusual activity: Out front a female union leader was swarmed by people, pushed to the ground and assaulted while a male union activist was chased away and punched. Another female union leader entered the factory door and seconds later was pushed outside, then shoved out of camera range. Two investigations of the episodes depicted in the video, one led by a Washington-based workers’ rights group and another by a prominent American apparel company, determined that the camera footage showed that factory managers directed those attacks at the Global Garments factory in Bangladesh on Nov. 10. The attacks occurred three months after a female union president was beaten in the head with an iron rod just outside another factory owned by the same company, the Azim Group, requiring her to get more than 20 stitches, workers’ rights groups say. They maintain that company-directed thugs carried out that assault, while the Azim Group said the assault resulted from a feud involving a former husband that, the company’s law firm said, “occurred outside working hours, outside the factory grounds, outside any industrial dispute.” The Azim Group, which says it has 24 factories and employs 27,000 workers, said it was not involved in either altercation. Mishcon de Reya, a law firm representing Azim, said the November dispute “arose between the workers and union leaders.” These attacks occurred... |
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- Have Democrats Failed the White Working Class? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs to Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Female Goldman Sachs employees seek class action alleging 'boys club' (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Class I Recall: Medtronic's Worldwide Voluntary Field Action on Guidewires (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)