Tag: Workers Comp

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday said it reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey contractor after a worker suffered a fatal fall at the construction site of a multiunit residential building in Bayonne in October 2023.

The settlement agreement resolves a citation and penalties issued against Linden, New Jersey-based Granite & Marble Services LLC over the death of the worker, which occurred when the worker stepped onto an elevated platform to unload materials and fell from the fifth floor.

Granite & Marble was issued a citation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for four serious violations for not securing the work platform and for failing to provide proper fall protection. The settlement affirms the citation and requires the company to pay a $13,500 penalty, the DOL said.

Granite & Marble also agreed to implement enhanced abatement measures and develop a safety program and institute a fall protection plan.

OSHA said it additionally cited the general contractor on the construction project, ARC NJ LLC, operating as ARC Building Partners LLC, for two serious violations and proposed $22,584 in penalties. ARC Building is contesting the citation and proposed fines before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

 

 

(Reuters) — Many U.S. dairy farms have not yet increased health protections against bird flu for employees during an outbreak in cows, according to workers, activists and farmers, worrying health experts about the risk for more human infections of a virus with pandemic potential.

Epidemiologists are concerned the virus could potentially spread and cause serious illnesses as farmers downplay the risk to workers while employees are not widely aware of cases in U.S. cattle.

The U.S. government said Wednesday that a second dairy worker contracted bird flu since cattle first tested positive in late March and that investigators are looking into whether the person was wearing or offered protective equipment.

Nearly 24,000 farms sell milk around the country, and they offer varying protections to staff. The National Milk Producers Federation said it encouraged farms to use protective equipment in line with federal recommendations and heard of increased worker protections.

Three dairy workers, seven activists and two lawyers who assist farm employees told Reuters that dairy owners have not offered equipment like face shields and goggles to staff who spend 10- to 12-hour days side-to-side with cows. Three large dairy companies with tens of thousands of cows declined to comment on their procedures.

The workers — all based in New York state, a major dairy producer — said they heard of the new illness affecting cattle through the media or community organizers, not their employers.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April and May advised workers to use personal protective equipment (PPE) if they may be exposed to sick livestock, after a Texas dairy worker tested positive for bird flu. On May 6, the agency asked states to make equipment available to workers.

New York state said it is assessing CDC’s recommendation and has not yet distributed equipment. Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, where cattle were infected, said they distributed equipment to eight dairies combined. Kansas, Idaho and Wisconsin said they have equipment, but no farmers asked for it.

Michigan, where the second dairy worker tested positive, said many farms have protective gear but the state is coordinating a way to make it available for those that need more.

Dairies became more aware of bird flu’s risks in late April after the U.S. government began requiring that cows test negative before crossing state lines, said Emily Yeiser Stepp, who oversees a National Milk Producers Federation program that covers workforce development.

Still, “reaching out into some of our rural networks takes a little longer,” she said when told of workers who said they were not informed of recommendations for protective equipment.

The U.S. confirmed bird flu in dairy cattle in nine states. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples.

Bird flu has caused serious or fatal infections globally among people in close contact with wild birds or poultry. In cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it believes unpasteurized milk is the primary vector for transmitting the virus, though officials do not know exactly how it spreads.

Health experts advise dairy workers to wear gloves and disposable coveralls that can block milk splashes on their bodies or clothing.

 

Working-age Massachusetts residents who died between 2011 and 2020 were 35% more likely to have died of an opioid-related overdose if they had previously been injured at work, according to data released Thursday by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

In linking the aftermath of work-related injuries to opioid-related overdose deaths, DPH compiled public health information about individuals’ employment and work-related injury statuses from their workers compensation claims and linked it with data from death certificates.

By linking these data sets, DPH found that of the 4,304 of workers ages 16 to 64 who had at least one workplace injury claim, 17.2% died from an opioid-related overdose between 2011 and 2020.

Sprains and strains, particularly of the back, were the most common injury types among those who suffered fatal opioid-related overdoses — a “significant finding” that the department says links acute and chronic pain from occupational injuries and opioid use and death.

Overall, 28.2% of the 741 Massachusetts workers who were previously injured at work and who died of an opioid-related overdose between 2011 and 2020 worked in construction and extraction occupations, such as quarrying and mining, according to the data. This is followed by 11.2% who worked in transportation and material-moving, and 6.8% who worked in food preparation and serving-related occupations.

 

 

 

Hospital outpatient payments in workers compensation claims are lower and growing at a slower rate in states with fixed reimbursement fee schedules compared with states that have no fee schedules, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

The study, “Hospital Outpatient Payment Index: Interstate Variations and Policy Analysis, 13th Edition,” looked at hospital payments for common workers comp outpatient surgeries in 36 states, which the WCRI says represent 88% of workers comp benefits paid across the country.

Researchers found that payments for outpatient procedures in states that have percent-of-charge-based fee regulations were 65% to 196% higher than the median of the study states that have fixed-amount fee schedules in 2022.

Researchers found that states with no hospital outpatient reimbursement fee schedules also had higher hospital outpatient payments per episode compared with states that have fixed-amount fee schedules.

The study also looked at workers comp hospital outpatient payments compared with Medicare rates for similar medical procedures.

The authors of the study said the findings are designed to help policymakers and industry stakeholders identify those states where hospital outpatient payments are “unusually high or low.”

The study also addressed major policy changes and fee schedule reforms.

Mississippi, for example, updated its ambulatory payment classification-based fee schedule from 2019 to 2022 Medicare values, which correlated with a 15% increase in hospital outpatient payments in 2022, the study states. 

 

 

The U.S. Postal Service must pay $141,307 in lost wages and damages to a probationary letter carrier who alleged an illegal firing for reporting a work-related injury, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday.

The judgment followed a two-day bench trial at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Judge Adrienne Nelson found the Postal Service discriminated against and wrongfully fired the worker 21 days after reporting a leg injury, which occurred while the worker was unloading mail from a postal truck.

The agency fired the worker 11 days before the probationary period ended.

The DOL filed suit against the Postal Service after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the work injury.

The DOL said it has filed nine federal lawsuits against the Postal Service since 2020 over probationary employees who say they were terminated after reporting similar injuries in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

 

 

AppliedVR, a Van Nuys, California-based immersive therapeutics company, announced Wednesday the release of its RelieVRx virtual reality device designed to treat workers compensation claimants suffering from lower back pain.

The device, marketed as an alternative to pharmaceuticals in the treatment of work injuries, incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback and emotional regulation to teach claimants how to better manage and relieve pain, according to an AppliedVR news release.

The device offers injured workers 56 chapters of six minutes each, with each session designed to induce neuroplasticity, which the company says helps regulate regions of the brain associated with pain.

 

First responders in New Jersey would gain counseling and job protections following harrowing on-duty incidents that cause mental anguish under a bill introduced by the state Senate on Monday.

S.B. 3296, which would provide regular pay and benefits for up to 30 days following an incident and the need for post-incident counseling, is the third bill this year in the state to address such issues as post-traumatic stress disorder for first responders — the two earlier bills are in committee.

The latest bill, which was sent to the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, states that an “employer shall not require a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or sheriff’s officer who is receiving debriefing and counseling services to use accrued paid vacation leave, personal leave, or sick leave if the law enforcement officer, firefighter, or sheriff’s officer leaves work to attend the debriefing and counseling sessions.”

The bill is in line with a nationwide legislative trend that aims to keep PTSD treatment out of workers compensation, as self-insured municipalities have argued that the unknown costs of mental injury presumptions are a hurdle to implementation.

A North Carolina furniture transportation company must defend against a lawsuit by a worker who says he was sexually assaulted by a work-release prison inmate because the incident is not subject to workers compensation exclusivity, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The claimant, a warehouse worker, sued Hickory-based Sunbelt Furniture Xpress Inc. over the alleged December 2019 sexual assault by a North Carolina Department of Corrections inmate who was assigned to Sunbelt Furniture as part of a prison work-release program.

The employer said inmates employed through the program are deemed suitable for work among the non-prison population and that it doesn’t accept inmates to the program who have been convicted of sex offenses.

The plaintiff sued Sunbelt Furniture in December 2022 and a trial judge in June 2023 denied a motion by the company to dismiss the case.

On appeal, the company argued that the case was subject to exclusive remedy, a common defense in workplace sexual assault cases.  

The appeals court disagreed, finding that while the injury from the assault occurred in the workplace, the sexual assault was not considered to have arisen out of the plaintiff’s employment with Sunbelt Furniture.