Tag: Workers Comp

A Pennsylvania appellate court has reversed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board that had overturned a workers comp judge’s ruling disallowing a mental injury claim by an injured nurse to move forward.  

The Commonwealth Court on Monday found the board erred in reversing a comp judge’s decision denying the nurse’s claim relating to the aggravation of her preexisting anxiety and depression issues.

The nurse, employed by Mercy Catholic Medical Center, claimed a January 2020 workplace shoulder injury led to an aggravation of her mental health problems.

The nurse sought temporary total disability benefits for physical and mental injuries. On the mental injury component, the comp board ruled for the nurse because her employer failed to timely respond to the claim.

The comp board said the employer’s failure to timely address the mental portion of the claim “constituted a deemed admission of the aggravation of Claimant’s preexisting anxiety and depression,” and that the judge should have granted the component of the claim involving the aggravation of mental injuries, the Commonwealth Court ruling states.

The appeals court said contrary to the board’s determination, evidence showed the nurse suffered no work-related aggravation of her preexisting anxiety and depression, and that the comp judge had properly ruled against that portion of the claim.  

 

 

Efforts are underway in Florida to increase the maximum allowed for medical payments in workers compensation.

H.B. 161, introduced Friday, would raise the maximum reimbursement for a treating physician to 200% of the reimbursement allowed by Medicare, up from 110% currently allowed. For surgeries, the bill also proposes to increase the state’s comp fees to 200% of Medicare, up from 140%.

The bill would also increase to $300 per hour the maximum allowed for expert witnesses in comp proceedings; that limit is currently set at $200 per hour.

The bill would go into effect July 1, 2024.

 

 

A former National Football League player who sought workers compensation benefits for cumulative trauma was properly denied benefits because his petition was untimely, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

Stuart Anderson, who in the mid-1980s played for the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins, filed comp claims against the team in 2018 and 2019 seeking treatment for hip arthritis that he attributed to injuries and cumulative trauma he developed during his time playing professional football.  

An administrative law judge denied the claims as untimely, a decision affirmed by a workers comp review board.

Mr. Anderson appealed, arguing evidence showed he hurt his right hip while working in 1984, which led him to develop arthritis later in life.

The appeals court, in affirming the denial, noted that the claims were time-barred because Mr. Anderson knew about the relationship between his hip problems and the trauma he sustained as a football player, since he began seeking medical treatment for those problems at least four years before he filed the comp claims.

The court concluded that a one-year statute of limitations in Washington would have applied to Mr. Anderson’s claim for medical benefits and that the claims were properly denied because they were filed too late. 

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday announced that it cited an Oklahoma metal fabrication manufacturer after a worker died in April during pressure testing of a heat exchanger.

OSHA cited Tulsa-based Accurate Manufacturing Inc. following three separate workplace safety and health investigations after the fatality that identified 36 violations, including 25 serious safety violations.

The company, which manufactures steel products for various industries, faces $275,890 in proposed penalties.

The employee who died was struck by one of the heat exchanger’s plugs while testing the device.

OSHA said the company failed to provide flame-proof shields or screens and protective eyewear to welders and assistants, failed to install required machine guards, failed to have in place an energy-control program or provide related training, and failed to ensure electrical equipment was properly maintained.

OSHA said it also discovered 10 additional health-related violations in addition to the safety violations.

The three health and safety investigations were opened as part of OSHA’s Regional Emphasis Program that focuses on hazards faced in the fabricated metal products industry.

The company has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.

 

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday said it cited an Ohio electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant following a March explosion and fire.

OSHA announced it cited Warren-based Ultium Cells LLC for 17 serious violations and two other-than-serious violations following the incident.

The agency also proposed $270,091 in penalties and issued the company a hazard letter asking it to voluntarily reduce accumulations of metal dust and protect workers from unsafe metal dust exposure.

OSHA listed numerous safety failures on the part of the company, including that it didn’t comply with standards relating to personal protective equipment, and that it failed to install required machine guarding, didn’t train workers in hazardous energy control procedures, failed to train workers on the dangers of workplace chemical hazards, and failed to store chemicals in labeled containers.

OSHA said it has cited the plant 11 times since it began battery cell production in August 2022.

The company has 15 business days to contest the citation and penalties.  

 

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed bills that will expand and extend an existing post-traumatic stress disorder presumption and vetoed other presumptions for nurses, state game wardens and park rangers, and boating safety officers.

S.B. 623 postpones by four years the statutory sunsetting of the presumption that PTSD is an occupational condition for some first responders until Jan. 1, 2029. The bill also expands the PTSD presumption to include firefighters for the State Hospitals, Developmental Services, Veterans Affairs and Military departments.

Among his vetoes, Gov. Newsom in a message to legislature cited a lack of “clear and compelling evidence” to support expanding presumptions as proposed in A.B. 1145, which would have added to the existing PTSD presumption nurses, psychiatric technicians and medical and social service specialists in certain state departments; in A.B. 699, which would have would have made conditions including skin cancer, hernias, heart trouble, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and biochemical exposure presumptive injuries for some San Diego Fire-Rescue Department workers; and in  S.B. 391, which would have added peace officers with the Fish and Wildlife and Parks and Recreation departments to the list of first responders already covered by a presumption that skin cancer is an occupational disease.

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

 

 

Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, a private investment firm based in New York and London, Tuesday announced the formation of MDpanel, a platform dedicated to the delivery of medical opinions as part of the workers compensation insurance claims process.

Appointed CEO is Jason Erdel, former CEO of Aspirion, another company providing medical review services, according to a statement.

California Medical Legal Specialists LLC, and California Medical Evaluators Holdings LLC have also joined the MDpanel platform, according to the statement.

 

 

 

California employers are no longer allowed to inquire about a job applicant’s past marijuana use under a bill signed into law on Saturday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 700, which protects workers by banning employers from conducting pre-employment drug screenings for cannabis.

The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, also generally bars employers from penalizing individuals because of off-the-clock marijuana use.

The measure does not protect information regarding a person’s past marijuana use if the information specifically pertains to a job applicant’s criminal history in cases where employers are permitted to consider that information under certain state and federal laws. 

The new law does not apply to job applicants seeking employment in the building and construction trades.

The law also does not allow workers to be impaired by marijuana on the job.