A construction worker injured in a building collapse was, in fact, an independent contractor, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has concluded, rejecting an earlier finding that the worker was actually an employee of the company he sued. In December 2018, Richard Palmer was injured while doing carpentry work on top of a pole barn that partially collapsed. The building…
Employers may be warming up to the idea that fighting some workers’ compensation claims and medical treatments can be counterproductive, and new emphasis should be placed on keeping injured workers happy – and out of the courtroom. “The workers’ comp system should be self-executing and so many times, it’s not,” said Michele Adams, vice president of risk management for Walmart….
A man claims he was fired in retaliation for filing a worker’s compensation claim. Gage Moore filed a federal lawsuit on Dec. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Advanced Technology Services, Inc., alleging retaliatory discharge, disability discrimination, retaliation, violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act – disability discrimination, disability retaliation, violation of the…
In the first year of the pandemic, COVID-19 claims in workers compensation made up roughly 1/10th of claims and on average were less costly than non-COVID claims in almost every state, according to new analysis published Wednesday by the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California. The COVID-19’s Impact on Workers Compensation report sourced data from 45 jurisdictions representing $630…
An appeals court in Illinois on Monday affirmed a previously overturned ruling denying workers compensation benefits for a gas journeyman with pre-existing asthma who was exposed to toxic fumes. Ricky A. Duncan, an employee at Ameren Corp. in Springfield, Illinois, was diagnosed with a “permanent and irreversible condition” of “severe irritant induced workplace associated bronchial reactivity” after inhaling gas fumes…
After 20 years of conflict, many U.S. soldiers and civilian contractors have returned home from Afghanistan and Iraq much different than when they first deployed. Psychological injuries are common in war zones, but a 2013 RAND Corporation Study found that civilian contractors suffer at a much greater rate. At the time of the study, 25% of private contractors showed PTSD…
About 10% of people who contracted COVID-19 continue to suffer persistent symptoms months later, creating the potential for millions of people to suffer functional impairment for extended lengths of time, according to a report released by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The report, written by Paradigm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Choo, says COVID long-haulers are anxious and irritable….
A recently published study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that the average medical payment for Indiana workers’ compensation claims with more than seven days of lost time was higher than the typical state. The study, CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Indiana, 22nd Edition, compared Indiana’s workers’ compensation system with systems in 17 other states. The WCRI analyzed workers’ compensation…
A highway worker was killed and a co-worker was seriously injured when a vehicle struck them as they were working along a rural road in eastern Indiana, state police said. The two Union County Highway Department employees were working about 9 a.m. on Oct. 18 along a road near U.S. 27 when a vehicle struck both of them, a preliminary…
An inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration at a rehabilitation and post-acute care facility in Byron, Illinois, found the health care facility did not comply with federal respiratory protection requirements in its quarantine area and failed to protect workers from coronavirus hazards. OSHA found that Generations at Neighbors LLC, operator of six similar facilities in Illinois and Indiana,…
