It could be a David versus Goliath legal battle. A longtime political gadfly and a city worker are suing Mayor Rahm Emanuel and powerful Ald. Ed Burke in federal court. Burke, the longtime Finance Committee chairman, controls the city’s controversial and obscure $100 million workers’ compensation program, which has come under scrutiny for years. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend…
The Illinois Policy Institute says that the city of Belleville, Illinois, has spent $420,000 settling workers’ compensation claims by employees this year, with much of that money going to workers who returned to their jobs the day after the injury. The Policy Institute, which advocates for more business friendly public policies, reported that Belleville pays for workers’ compensation settlements of…
Who decides what to pay city staffers after on-the-job injuries? It’s the Finance Committee of the City Council. And, as virtually everyone knows, it shouldn’t be. Pop quiz: Who manages the annual expenditure of more than $100 million to approve and compensate city workers for on-the-job injuries? Is it the head of human resources? Nope. Maybe the city’s top lawyer?…
A St. Clair County laborer claims several manufacturing companies negligently exposed him to cancer-causing asbestos. Lawrence Ray Jenkins Jr. filed a complaint on July 6 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against the companies, which include Shell Oil, Union Carbide, Chevron and Armstrong Pumps. According to the complaint, Jenkins was exposed to asbestos while hauling and sorting scrap metal from…
A deckhand blames WATCO Companies for creating an unsafe work environment aboard a boat. Sam E. Carson filed a complaint on June 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against WATCO Companies, alleging the vessel owner failed to provide a safe walkway. According to the complaint, Carson was working on the Red Lightning when he…
Summer job season is in full swing, with the influx of younger workers creating workplace safety challenges for employers. Broadly speaking, workers between the ages of 14 and 24 are likely to injure themselves on the job because of their inexperience as well as their physical, cognitive and emotional developmental characteristics, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration….
U.S. workplace safety regulators have cited an Illinois-based cardboard box manufacturer for exposing employees to unprotected machinery and amputation hazards and have proposed penalties of $66,612. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Packaging Corp. of America for failing to provide written procedures to control the release of hazardous energy, exposing employees to struck-by, caught-in and amputation hazards, and…
The chief of the Fishers Police Department was arrested late Friday evening after he was involved in an accident while driving under the influence. According to a police report, Fishers Police Chief Mitch Thompson was involved in a multiple car accident on Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis just before midnight. The report indicates that Chief Thompson rear-ended a vehicle, causing it…
A crash early Sunday morning resulted in 5 being transported to the hospital with serious to minor injuiries and the driver of one vehicle charged with DUI. Illinois State Police District 5 Troopers responded to a personal injury crash between two vehicles at Route 53 and Manhattan-Monee Road. The initial investigation found the driver of a Chevrolet Colorado pick-up truck…
The driver of a speeding Tesla electric car that crashed and burned in Indianapolis, killing her and a passenger, was too drunk to drive, according to a police report released Wednesday. The two worked at a company that provides case management software for plaintiff attorneys. The report, which includes toxicology test results, said 27-year-old driver Casey Speckman had a blood-alcohol…
