Tag: Workers Comp

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday that it cited a Massachusetts contractor after the death of a construction worker in June 2023.

OSHA cited Stoughton-based LMA Services Co. LLC for one willful violation and one other-than-serious violation and proposed $142,642 in penalties.

The worker was killed at a job site in Brockton when struck and pinned by a track loader handling crushed stone on uneven ground.

OSHA said LMA also delayed providing injury and illness records after being subpoenaed for documents.

The company has already contested the citation and proposed penalties.

 

An appeals court in Pennsylvania upheld an arbitrator’s award of benefits to a corrections officer for his injuries from crashing his patrol vehicle when he fell asleep behind the wheel while on duty.  

Justin Kerschner works for the Department of Corrections and is a member of the bargaining unit known as the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, which has an agreement that calls for arbitration under the Heart and Lung Act, a workers compensation alternative for officers, according to Department of Corrections v. Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, filed Wednesday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Kerschner suffered injuries when he fell asleep behind the wheel of his patrol vehicle during a mandatory overtime shift and crashed into a garage. His claim for HLA benefits, which the department denied, asserted that he was not injured “in the performance of his duties.”

His employer reasoned he fell asleep while driving and thus could not have been “in the performance of his duties” because sleeping on the job is expressly prohibited. An arbitrator disagreed, awarding benefits.

The appeals court also ruled in favor of Mr. Kerschner, stating he was indisputably “on duty” at the time of his injuries, as he was performing the obligatory task of patrolling the perimeter of the prison that he was assigned to do, the court noted.

The accident was not the byproduct of “a willful intention by the employee to stop working and go to sleep,” so the arbitrator’s interpretation of the HLA’s “in the performance of his duties” requirement was reasonable and consistent, the ruling states.

WorkCompCentral is a sister publication of Business Insurance. More stories here.

 

 

 

Mississippi lawmakers on Wednesday filed legislation that would give options for first responders with mental injuries other than pursuing workers compensation benefits.

House Bill 236, dubbed the Helping Heroes Act, would allow firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services personnel with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder arising from a workplace incident to receive reimbursements for paid mental health services and to take up to 30 days of paid leave time instead of filing for workers comp.

Reimbursement costs and paid leave time would be capped at $7,500 annually.

PTSD arising from a “legitimate personnel action,” including a promotion, demotion or termination, would not be compensable under the bill.

Under the bill, the state’s Department of Revenue would have to set aside $200,000 each year from collected insurance premium tax revenue to be placed into a special fund to cover the first responders. 

 

 

Arizona lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday that would require employer coverage of MDMA-assisted therapy in workers compensation claims involving certain first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

House Bill 2274 would add methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted therapy as an approved treatment protocol for firefighters and peace officers diagnosed with PTSD arising from line-of-duty incidents.

Health care providers treating claimants for mental injury would be permitted to use MDMA, a psychedelic found in street drugs such as ecstasy, even though it is currently a Schedule I federally illegal drug.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently weighing whether to approve MDMA-assisted therapy as an approved treatment for PTSD at the federal level. 

 

 

The New York Supreme Court, Albany division, has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a motorist against a newspaper corporation over injuries she claimed to have sustained after being struck in a crosswalk by a delivery driver.

The court, in a Wednesday ruling, said a lawsuit filed by Karla Smith against The Hearst Corp., Hearst Communications Inc. and delivery driver Richard Ryder Jr. may proceed because questions remain unsolved over whether Mr. Ryder was a Hearst employee or independent contractor.

Ms. Smith alleges a claim of vicarious liability against Hearst, but the company argues it is not responsible for Mr. Ryder’s negligence because he is an independent contractor.

Ms. Smith argues that the state’s labor law and workers compensation law, which typically are at play in cases involving employment activities, and were cited by the company in its defense, have no bearing on the company’s vicarious liability in a civil tort suit.

Those statutes, she said, merely govern the determination of benefit eligibility for the worker and have no bearing on recovery of damages for a third-party uninvolved in the employer-employee relationship.

The lawsuit was allowed to proceed so a jury could determine whether Mr. Ryder was an employee, which may make the company vicariously liable for negligence.  

 

 

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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday it cited a manufacturer after discovering numerous machine safety violations at its Itasca, Illinois, plant that expose workers to amputation hazards.

OSHA cited Walker Midwest LLC, a division of Ontario, Canada-based Walker Stamping, for one willful violation and 13 serious violations following a July inspection that took place after the agency received a complaint under the National Emphasis Program on Amputations in Manufacturing Industries.

The company was issued $298,453 in proposed penalties. It has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.

OSHA said Walker Midwest failed to train workers on proper machine safety procedures and allowed them to operate unguarded machines.

The July inspection also discovered that employees were engaged in maintenance and servicing work on the machines without lockout/tagout procedures in place. 

 

 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed a pair of bills that expand the state’s workers compensation law for certain first responders.

The governor signed into law Assembly Bill 5909 and Senate Bill 4267, which, among other things, add part-time and volunteer firefighters, police officers and first aid or rescue squad members as employees eligible for workers comp benefits.

The new law adds that a response to an emergency, including work that is sufficient to cause certain injuries or death, is considered compensable.

It also expands first responders who are covered under workers comp to include career emergency medical technicians and paramedics employed by the state, counties, municipalities or private sector counterparts engaged in public emergency medical and rescue services.

 

 

The Nevada Division of Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety & Health Administration announced Monday increased penalty amounts for employers that violate workplace safety regulations.

The 3.24% increase, which takes effect immediately, is in response to federal regulations mandating states adjust penalties in line with inflation.

For willful and repeat violations, the maximum penalty increased to $161,323 from $156,259, and the maximum increase for serious and other-than-serious violations rose to $16,131 from $15,625.

Nevada OSHA said the new penalty amounts will be levied immediately for any violation, regardless of when an investigation was opened.