Tag: Workers Comp

A federal judge has held a Nebraska roofing contractor in contempt for failing to comply with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration subpoena, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr., of the District of Nebraska, ordered Christopher C. Arps to pay $100 a day if he continues to ignore the subpoena, which relates to a case in which an employee fell from a roof after suffering cardiac arrest because he was not supplied with adequate fall protection.

Judge Rossiter also ordered Mr. Arps to pay $5,926.26 to the DOL for legal fees and costs and said that if Mr. Arps fails to comply with the subpoena by Friday, he might face additional sanctions, including possible incarceration.

OSHA said Mr. Arps has stalled federal investigators for more than a year. It seeks unspecified documents relating to the February 2023 workplace incident in Lincoln.

Mr. Arps has consistently denied that the fall occurred, OSHA said. The administrative subpoena was issued in late February 2023.

The court previously upheld OSHA’s subpoena authority in the case. 

 

 

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday it cited an Ohio music instrument manufacturer after a worker’s finger was partially amputated in July 2023.

OSHA cited East Lake-based Conn-Selmer Inc. after the workplace injury, which occurred while the employee was working with a machine used to manufacture sousaphones.

OSHA issued a citation for three repeat violations and three serious violations and proposed $273,447 in penalties. Conn-Selmer has 15 business days to contest the citation and penalties.

This was the sixth amputation injury reported at the facility in the past eight years, OSHA stated. Investigators found Conn-Selmer employees were injured at four times the industry average rate in the past five years.

OSHA placed the company in the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

Conn-Selmer, a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments Inc., manufactures and distributes instruments for students, amateurs and professionals, and also has facilities in Indiana and North Carolina. 

 

 

U.S. employers must adapt to the challenges posed by the opioid crisis by adjusting job skill requirements and expanding workplace drug testing to mitigate potential productivity loss resulting from illicit substance use, researchers from Stanford University wrote in recently published findings.

In their paper published this month, titled The Opioid Crisis and Firm Skill Demand: Evidence from Job Posting Data, researchers from Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research also wrote that raising hiring standards may disproportionately impact lower-skilled workers, including those who never suffered from opioid use disorders.

Employers, they wrote, often play a “critical role” in addressing and preventing the nationwide opioid crisis.

“The crisis can impose a substantial burden on businesses through lost productivity, increased health care costs, and greater costs for workers’ compensation claims,” the researchers wrote. “It might also be harder to hire qualified workers who can pass drug screenings.”

The paper states that while previous policy discussions surrounding opioids largely concentrated on health outcomes and addiction prevention measures, more needs to be done to address the problem from an employment standpoint.

Employers, for example, can implement educational programs to raise awareness about opioid use risk and the workplace safety dangers posed by the opioid epidemic, they wrote. 

 

 

California employers would have to post a notice that an injured worker has a right to an attorney under a bill introduced Monday.

A.B. 1870, which has not been assigned to a committee, amends state law that already requires employers to “post and keep posted in a conspicuous location frequented by employees,” an “easily read” notice that provides details on which entities manage workers compensation insurance and claims, and where to report injuries and a worker’s rights to medical care.

The bill states that a revised notice would have to include that the “injured employee may consult a licensed attorney to advise them of their rights under workers compensations laws” and that “(i)n some instances, attorney’s fees may be paid from an injured employee’s recovery.”

 

 

A workers compensation judge wrongly reduced by $682,000 the fees awarded to a lawyer representing a man who requires lifetime medical benefits following a work accident three decades ago that led to permanent paralysis, the Florida District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday.  

The court reversed a workers comp judge’s decision awarding attorney Michael Rudolph $123,000 in fees for representing the man, who became a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic following the 1993 accident at a Home Depot facility.

Mr. Rudolph sought $805,000 for his work, which was to be shared among other attorneys who worked on the case. The requested fee was based on a $13,500,000 settlement.

The workers comp judge reduced the amount for Mr. Rudolph, saying the figure “shocks (his) conscience,” since it amounted to $4,000 an hour, and would be coming from the pocket of the injured worker, who requires lifetime medical care, the ruling states.

Mr. Rudolph argued the workers comp judge deviated from an agreed-upon amount in the case, and that the judge failed to consider that the “customary fee” was a percentage of the settlement and not based on an hourly rate.

The appeals court agreed, writing the stipulated fee amount was already “substantially less than what (state statute) deemed as presumptively fair.”

“A judge of compensation claims must rely on evidence instead of his own ‘subjective belief and personal experience’ in evaluating the reasonableness of an attorney’s fee claim,” the court wrote.

 

 

 

Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would make employers prove that marijuana use caused a worker’s injury.

H.B. 351, which was referred to a committee, states that “if a scientifically reliable test reveals that the employee had a level of five … nanograms or more of delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol per milliliter” and “no other unprescribed substance or prescribed substance in amounts in excess of prescribed amounts” there would not be a presumption that the substance caused the injury, occupational disease, or death of the employee.

The bill stipulates that the employer would have the burden of proving the injury, occupational disease or death was “proximately caused” by the drug.

If the test finds that the employee had less than five nanograms of the substance and no other medicine in their system “there shall be an irrebuttable presumption” that the substance did not cause the accident.  

 

 

 

Nearly every state announced reduced rates for workers compensation insurance for 2024, while Washington told employers to expect a 4.9% rate hike.

Washington is the only one of the four so-called monopolistic states — private insurers cannot sell workers comp policies in North Dakota, Ohio and Wyoming either — to announce such an increase.

The decision by Washington bucks a yearslong trend in which employers across the country have paid less for comp coverage, and it marks the third consecutive rate increase imposed by the state.

This year’s hike follows a 4.8% increase in 2023 and a 3.1% increase in 2022, a spokesman with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries wrote in an email.

Rising wages and increased health care costs are two primary drivers behind the raised rates, he wrote.

Unlike states that base workers comp rates on a percentage of payroll, Washington charges rates on an amount-per-hour basis calculated based on how many hours are worked, according to the spokesman.

This means when wages go up in Washington, premium collected remains the same, he said.

Insurance industry experts said Washington is an outlier with regard to how it charges workers comp rates, since in most states, premiums tend to rise with an increase in wages.

“In all my years of insurance pricing, both pro rata and excess, I did not come across any programs that used employee hours as the exposure base,” said Christopher Graham, senior industry analyst with Oldwick, New Jersey-based A.M. Best Co. Inc. “Everything … was priced as a percentage of payroll.”

State business leaders reacting to the Washington rate increase noted 4.9% is the average across all sectors, with some businesses likely to see even higher rates.

“We’re disappointed that Washington once again missed an opportunity to lower costs for employers and to help them navigate this challenging economy,” Kris Johnson, president of the Association of Washington Business, said in a statement, noting the state has the nation’s highest workers comp wage replacement benefits paid.

While the workers comp line in general has been healthy in recent years, it is more affected by economic trends than other lines, and issues like wages and health care costs can dictate how insurers set aside reserves for injured worker claims, said David Blades, associate director with A.M. Best Co. Inc.

One expert said Washington’s rising rates could be an indicator of a coming trend.

“Issues like provider consolidation are combining to push costs up and there are other structural things going on,” said Joe Paduda, Plainfield, New Hampshire-based principal with workers comp consultancy Health Strategy Associates.

“So, Washington is essentially doing what the rest of the industry is going to do in 2025, 2026,” he said.

Other industry analysts say the workers comp line should continue to see positive results.

“We’ve basically been pretty comfortable saying that we expect the 2023 combined ratio to again be under 100, which would be the 10th straight year of underwriting profitability,” said Jeff Eddinger, senior division executive with the Boca Raton, Florida-based National Council on Compensation Insurance. “We are saying that the environment is going to continue to contribute to declining loss costs in our states.”

 

 

South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would create a compensable cancer presumption for professional and volunteer firefighters.

Senate Bill 114, made public Tuesday, says that any cancer, lymphoma or leukemia that may be caused by exposure to heat, smoke, radiation or known carcinogens as determined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer would be considered a presumed occupational disease for firefighters, enabling them to collect workers compensation benefits.

The presumption would not apply if the cancer is known to be caused by tobacco products or if the worker was a regular smoker for 10 or more years.

Both career and volunteer firefighters must be employed in their role for at least two years to claim the presumption, and volunteer members would have to participate in 40% of drills and training and respond to 25% of emergency calls.   

 

 

Origami Risk, a Chicago-based risk management software company, announced Tuesday the launch of its cellphone app Origami Mobile, designed for use by industry safety professionals.  

The app enables risk professionals, employees and contractors to conduct job site audits and inspections and report incidents from locations nationwide even in instances where Wi-Fi is unavailable.

Users will be able to detect and report workplace operational hazards and behavior trends, monitor effectiveness of safety programs, gather and leverage real-time incident data and provide coaching and training services to workers.

Safety team members will be able to use the app to tap into claims data, checklists, metrics and analytics.  

 

 

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance on Tuesday announced that workers compensation insurance premiums will decline by an average of 9.4% for most Tennessee businesses in 2024.

The decrease, which goes into effect March 1, is the result of a decline in lost-time claim frequency and more stable claims costs, Insurance Commissioner Carter Lawrence said in a statement. It’s the 11th consecutive year businesses have paid less for comp coverage, according to the department.

Tennessee employers have also reported fewer significant workplace injuries, which have contributed to the reduction in loss costs, the department said.