The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down on Dec. 20 part of a new law that prevents chiropractors and some other medical professionals from serving as independent medical examiners in the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court and testifying in workers’ compensation cases.

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McElroy and Hill sentenced in separate cases – Two Geauga County men have been sentenced after they were convicted of fraud for working while collecting workers’ compensation benefits. Kenneth McElroy was self-employed performing equipment repair and snow plowing services and owes $80,000 to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). William Hill was discovered operating his own business, Hill’s Contracting Company, and must repay more than $133,000.

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The average rate employers pay for workers' compensation [in NJ] will increase 6.9 percent next year, a hike pinned to rising medical costs and the lackluster economy.  High-risk industries will pay more into the state-mandated insurance system that covers medical services when workers are injured on the job and wages while they are out of work.

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A new workplace wellness program from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation is intended to help employers meet the challenges related to rising incidences of obesity and chronic disease. Participating employers will be awarded up to $15,000 over four years to implement the programs.

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Here’s an incentive to offer injured workers light-duty work that’s consistent with their medical restrictions: If the employee declines it, he’s no longer eligible for unemployment compensation. That’s because refusing appropriate work without a “necessitous and compelling reason” is the same as quitting.

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Q. How do I know when to classify a worker as a contractor or a true employee?

A. Classifying a worker as an employee or a contractor has important implications for an employer’s administrative responsibilities.

An employer must withhold and pay an employee’s federal and state income taxes as well as Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes. For independent contractors, those requirements do not apply. 

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Despite a legal effort by her employer -- St. Clair County -- to block a workers' compensation disability award of at least $84,000, Jeannie Brown will get the tax-free, tax-paid settlement.

Belleville attorney Rod Thompson, representing the county, last month lost a legal challenge to a state Workers' Compensation Commission order to pay Brown, the operations manager of the Circuit Clerk's Office. She claimed that typing on a keyboard and filing papers for more than 20 years injured her wrists and elbows.

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The fight is on to close a loophole that's driving up workers' compensation insurance rates in Florida.

The insurance covers injured workers. Rates are going up because the doctors who are treating those workers are increasingly dispensing repackaged drugs out of their own offices, with huge mark-ups.

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A wellness approach to reducing employer costs

COLUMBUS – Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Stephen Buehrer today announced the addition of a workplace wellness program to help employers meet the challenges related to rising incidences of obesity and chronic disease. Over the next four years, the program will make $4 million available to employers to create programs to control escalating costs of workers’ compensation claims associated with these health risk factors.

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For the purpose of determining workers compensation benefits, a claimant’s “regular work” includes overtime, Oregon’s Court of Appeals ruled has ruled.

The case of Compensation of Judy A. Cole vs. Thrifty Payless Inc. dba Rite Aid Corp. addresses the claim of a warehouse worker who suffered a back injury.

In April 2008, Ms. Cole’s doctor released her to return to her “regular work,” which is defined by Oregon law as “the job the worker held at injury.” However, the doctor ordered that the claimant was not to work overtime and indicated the restriction was permanent.

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A new state law to mandate drug-testing for workers on unemployment—and even injured employees receiving workers’ compensation—is a top priority of the upcoming legislative session for Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

“I’m in favor of drug-testing for people who are on any kind of benefits, whether it’s unemployment compensation or workers’ compensation, whatever it is, because I don’t think we need to be supporting that lifestyle with government money,” Ramsey told reporters today. “I’m very much for that. I think you’ll see that passed this session.”

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The Michigan legislature has passed a bill that would make major changes to the state’s workers' compensation law.

Under the new bill, insurance companies can reduce the amount of compensation to an injured worker based on how much that worker could make at another job while injured. That’s regardless of whether that job is even available.

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Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey today alluded to complications with workers’ compensation reform and opined on a range of other business issues in advance of the Tennessee General Assembly reconvening.

Ramsey, the colorful conservative Republican from Blountville who serves as head of the Senate, spoke to reporters about numerous issues, including workers’ compensation and the controversial matter of whether Tennessee should elect all of its judges. He expressed support for reforming the workers’ compensation system along the lines that business interests have been exploring, but was doubtful that the legislature would be able to accomplish all he would like on the issue during the upcoming session, which begins in January.

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Columbus - Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Stephen Buehrer today announced five individuals were convicted of or pleaded guilty to charges related to defrauding Ohio’s workers’ compensation system during the month of November. The court actions are the result of investigations conducted by BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID), which works to deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute workers’ compensation fraud. The cases bring the total number of convictions this year to 119.

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A bill pre-filed for the 2012 legislative session would increase workers’ compensation payments by $20 a week, but it also would give appellate courts the authority to reject a trial judge’s ruling in cases.

The pro-business bill by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, is opposed by organized labor.

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Manitoba has tied for third worst in a comparative study of workers compensation boards across the country.

The study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business combined a feedback survey from its members with a comparative analysis of data on WCBs in the 10 provinces.

The CFIB devised an index based on the seven top priorities identified by its members. Each component was weighted based on the results of a survey in which business owners were asked about the priority level for each area of the workers compensation system.

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The Nebraska Supreme Court says workers compensation benefits can't be denied to a former hospital employee who did not disclose prior work injuries in a pre-employment screening, a reversal of a longstanding employer right.

In a unanimous ruling, the court last week reversed a 1979 state Supreme Court decision—Hilt Truck Lines Inc. vs. Rajean Jones—that had allowed companies to claim a common-law defense against employees or job applicants who misrepresent their background to employers.

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The Agra Hara insurance scheme launched by the NITF is one of the biggest insurance schemes in the South Asian region and it has spent over Rs.1.1 billion to pay compensation to government workers this year. Around Rs. 95 million has been provided by them for accidents and accidental deaths, and Rs.94 million for child births. Rs.160 million has been spent for spectacles as well, NITF Chairman Senaka Abeygunasekara told the Daily News.

The National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) will provide around Rs. 2,000 million to the government treasury this year as they have done in the past three years, Abeygunasekara added. According to the NITF Chairman, there are 30 government officers who have died due to road accidents monthly and 65 percent of these have been motorbike accidents.

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Potential large-scale changes to Michigan's workers' compensation laws now hinge on a stroke of Governor Rick Snyder's pen.

The Associated Press reports that Snyder "will likely support the bill pending final review."

In case you haven't been keeping up on the issue, here's a list of important facts about workers' compensation in Michigan from Changing Gears Public Insight Analyst, Sarah Alvarez.

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Willis Capital Markets & Advisory, part of insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, announced that it has structured and placed a $200 million catastrophe bond transaction for the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the largest writer of workers’ compensation business in California.

Willis says the Golden State Re Ltd. transaction is the first cat bond designed exclusively to protect a portfolio of workers’ comp exposures.

The transaction, which closed on Dec. 8, expires in early 2015. The bond provides the State Fund with $200 million of multi-year, fully collateralized protection against workers’ comp claims as a result of U.S. earthquakes.

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A bill that could help Michigan employers reduce costs related to compensating workers injured on the job is on the way to Gov. Rick Snyder after getting final approval Tuesday in the state Legislature.

The bill was approved 60-47 mostly along party lines in the Republican-led House, which agreed with changes to the legislation made last week in the Republican-controlled Senate. The bill exempts police and fire department employees from many of the new workers' comp rules outlined in the legislation.

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The exclusive remedy provision in workers compensation law does not bar an employee from collecting uninsured motorist benefits from a self-insured employer, New York state's high court has ruled.

In the case of Elrac Inc. vs. Birtis Exum, Mr. Exum was in an automobile accident with another car while working for Elrac, a self-insured subsidiary of Enterprise Rent-a-Car Co.The other car's driver had not purchased liability insurance, according to Tuesday's New York Court of Appeals ruling. So Mr. Exum notified Elrac that he intended to seek uninsured motorist benefits from the employer through arbitration.

Elrac sought to stay the arbitration, and a trial court granted the petition. But in 2010, an appellate court reversed and allowed arbitration to proceed.

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Nova Scotia’s workers’ compensation system ranks in the middle of the pack among provinces, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business study.

The Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia placed fourth overall with a score of 5.9 out of 10 in a report released Tuesday.

“Clearly there’s lots of work to be done,” Leanne Hachey, the federation’s Atlantic vice-president, said in an interview.

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One point is sorely missing. You can put all the safety precautions in place you want, but unless the establishment has an effective safety management and accident prevention program, and the workers have been properly trained to use the program, incidents will continue to happen.

Training is key. The Workers Compensation Board has struggled to come up with regulations for workers who work alone because the regulation applies to everyone -- and that includes late-night establishments and office workers.

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In the first nine months of 2011, worker compensation insurers' written premiums in the state rose to about $8.3 billion, according to a report by the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California, Business Insurance reports (Ceniceros, Business Insurance, 12/12).

That amount represents an increase of about 12% from the same period last year.

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