In January, the Workers Compensation Research Institute reported that comp claims with long COVID had higher-than-average medical payments and indemnity payments and longer durations of temporary disability than regular COVID-19 claims. “In particular, we found a nearly 10-fold difference in the average medical payment per claim,” WCRI researcher Bogdan Savych wrote in the report, which analyzed infections between March 2…
A district court should not have excluded an expert’s testimony, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in reinstating a case in which a forklift operator’s leg was amputated as a result of an accident. Adelaida Anderson was working as a forklift operator at a FedEx warehouse in Effingham, Illinois, in July 2017, when she hit a bump and fell out…
Illinois lawmakers on Monday introduced workers compensation bills that would affect compensability on cumulative trauma and work travel. H.B. 1543 would determine that an injury arose out of and in the course of employment only if the accident “significantly caused or contributed to both the resulting condition and disability.” The bill doesn’t define “significantly caused,” so it’s not clear how…
Nearly a dozen states as of late January had introduced legislation to expand or enhance workers compensation benefits for employees who suffer mental injuries by presuming they are suffered in the course of work. “The trend will continue,” said Brian Allen, Salt Lake City-based vice president of government affairs, pharmacy solutions, for Mitchell International Inc., a subsidiary of Enlyte Group….
Injuries to body parts that are caused by repetitive motion, frequent exposure to sounds, chemicals or even vibrations are among the most perplexing in the workers compensation sector. Claims arising from cumulative trauma injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and hearing loss, will likely rise given the aging workforce and an overall trend toward litigation, comp experts say. How…
A former Sam’s Club employee claims she was fired for seeking worker’s compensation benefits after she was injured on the job. Plaintiff Magdalena P. Szetlak filed the lawsuit in the Madison County Circuit Court against Sam’s Club, citing wrongful termination in violation of the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Act. According to the lawsuit, Szetlak was an employee of a Sam’s Club…
An Illinois appeals court has reinstated the workers compensation benefits of a crossing guard injured in a slip-and-fall incident, ruling that a lower court was wrong to overturn the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission’s awarding of medical benefits in the case. The First District Appellate Court of Illinois, Workers’ Compensation Commission Division Thursday determined that the commission was correct to award…
Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a state-funded program to provide unspecified income and mental health services to first responders who have been involved in “a qualified critical incident.” H.B. 1136, introduced Tuesday, would establish the Indiana “first responders mental health wellness fund and program” and would cover those who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following…
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a budget bill Monday that included provisions addressing the increasingly popular topic of reducing injuries among warehouse workers. Pritzker signed S.B. 1720, a budget implementation act for fiscal year 2023 that also creates the Warehouse Safety Standards Task Force. The task force is charged with providing the governor and lawmakers quarterly updates about its findings,…
Opioid prescribing in workers compensation nosedived to an all-time low last year, a new report finds, but experts say the picture is complicated, with other drugs taking over the pain management space, among other factors. AmTrust Financial Services Inc. reported in October that only 15.2% of its workers compensation claims for 2021 involved an opioid prescription, down from 60% in…
