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Disability Law

Workers Comp Insider

About workers compensation insurance, risk management, workplace health and safety, occupational medicine, and related topics.
By Lynch Ryan

Post Frequency: 5.3/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:16:48

Bath Iron Works: "All I want for Christmas is a Fee Schedule"

Posted on December 21, 2009
It's hard to think of anyone bullying Bath Iron Works, the General Dynamics subsidiary that builds destroyers for the U.S. Navy. But they are being kicked around like the proverbial 90 pound weakling by the workers comp system in Maine. Two years ago we blogged the inability of Mainers to come up with a viable fee schedule for workers comp...

(Cannon) Fodder for a Friday: The Fate of Foreign Interpreters in Iraq

Posted on December 18, 2009
How would you like a job that pays $12,000 a year, where 1 percent of the workforce is killed annually and hundreds of others are seriously maimed? I didn't think so. You would probably take a pass on working for Titan Corporation (now part of L-3) as an interpreter for the U...

Cavalcade of Risk #94 and general workers comp news notes

Posted on December 17, 2009
Cavalcade of Risk #94 is posted at My Wealth Builder. Among the many good posts, our friend Hank Stern offers some good news for the holiday season. Our fellow blogger Joe Paduda was recently speaking at the Casualty Actuarial Society's annual meeting on the topic of health reform and its impact on workers comp, and his remarks were covered by...

MA Supremes: teacher chaperoning ski trip due workers comp

Posted on December 15, 2009
In a recent decision that shouldn't be too surprising to those who follow workers' comp compensability issues, the Massachusetts Supreme Court recently upheld a decision by the Department of Industrial Accidents to grant workers compensation benefits to Karen Sikorksi, a Peabody teacher injured while chaperoning high school kids on a 2004 ski trip...

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Joint and Several Bust

Posted on December 14, 2009
Back in June we blogged the failure of several self-insurance groups (SIGs) in New York, all run by Compensation Risk Managers (CRM). There was bad news all around: participants in CRM SIGs were suddenly without coverage; and participants in other (non-CRM) SIGs were hit with a huge surcharge to make up the deficits created by CRM's deficient management...

Health Wonk Review: the sausage-making-is-a-messy-business pre-holiday edition

Posted on December 10, 2009
We're honored to be hosting the holiday edition of Health Wonk Review. As we approach the holiday season waiting for a verdict on health care reform, we can take a lesson from Santa Claus, whose ordeal on this publicity shoot reminds us that good things don't always come easily: Our wonderful wonkers don't let the holiday season slow them down...

Racketeering and Comp: When the Denial of an Injury is an Injury

Posted on December 09, 2009
Imagine you work as a commercial driver for a long-established trucking firm that self-insures for workers comp. You are injured on the job. You seek benefits under the comp statute. The TPA handling the claim refers you to a company doctor. The doctor determines that the injury is not work related...

"Exclusive Remedy" for Losing Your Face?

Posted on December 08, 2009
Usually employers try to prove that someone is not an employee, in order to avoid the workers comp liability. (Think "independent contractor.") Today we examine a truly horrific case where the employer is desperate to establish compensability under workers comp, so that a grieviously injured employee can only collect comp benefits...

Fear of Talking: The Narcoleptic Dispatcher

Posted on December 07, 2009
Kenya Madden was hired as a police dispatcher for the Village of Hillsboro, Illinois, in July 2007. During the 10 week training period, she informed the trainer that she had narcolepsy, a disorder which causes people to fall asleep at unplanned moments...

Ten Years After: the Worcester Cold Storage Fire

Posted on December 04, 2009
Most Massachusetts residents will recall how their heart sank 10 years ago upon hearing TV and radio reports of the on-the-job deaths of six firefighters in the Worcester Cold Storage fire. While firefighting is a dangerous job, this was the first time that six firefighters fatalities occurred in a building where neither a collapse nor explosion had occurred...

Turkey Shoot

Posted on December 03, 2009
William Wehnke, 51, claims to have spotted a wild turkey in his field in rural Annsville, New York (population 3,000). He took aim and fired at the turkey and managed to hit Matthew Brady, a workers comp investigator, who happened to be crouching in the field, dressed in camouflage...

Cavalcade of Risk, Linkedin, AIG, fraud, Station Nightclub fire, & strip searches

Posted on December 02, 2009
Nancy Germond is hosting Cavalcade of Risk #93 - check it out. And while you're at it, check out Nancy's regular insurance column on AllBusiness. Mark Wall's excellent WC forum on LinkedIn - While recently attending the National Workers Compensation & Disability Conference in Chicago, I had the opportunity to meet Mark Walls who is the founder of LinkedIn's excellent...

Concussions: A Softening in the NFL's School of Hard Knocks

Posted on December 01, 2009
Hines Ward is the epitome of the NFL tough guy. As a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he is known for his flamboyant personality and his ability to give and take ferocious hits. He was the most valuable player in Superbowl XL. In his pursuit of athletic excellence, he is a gambler...

Workers' Compensation Metrics: Creating a One-Page Scorecard

Posted on November 30, 2009
(Note: This is an opt-in, opt-out mailing service to the readers of www.workerscompinsider.com. If you would like to be removed from the notification list, please send an e-mail to communications@lynchryan.com stating "remove me from the notification list" in the subject line, and include the e-mail address that you registered under in the body of the e-mail...

Another Turkey in Ohio

Posted on November 24, 2009
The state of Ohio has attained considerable notoriety for its workers comp program. Unfortunately, the fame derives from a scandal, dubbed Coingate, in which high level officials were implicated in the diversion and theft of comp funds. There are a number of political operatives spending this Thanksgiving in jail...

Massachusetts Premium Rates Redux

Posted on November 23, 2009
My blog post of last Thursday (19 November 2009) addressing why workers? compensation costs in Massachusetts are the lowest in the nation, while benefits are among the highest drew a mild pushback from Mark Walls, who manages the excellent LinkedIn Workers? Compensation Forum...

Housekeepers, Revisited

Posted on November 20, 2009
Back in September we blogged the mass layoffs of housekeepers at the Hyatt Hotels in Boston. After unknowingly training their replacements, long-term employees were laid off, their jobs taken over by employees of a temp firm called Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS)...

State Rankings: Why is Massachusetts at the Top?

Posted on November 19, 2009
Recently, in one of his Risk & Insurance columns, our friend and colleague, Peter Rousmaniere, wrote a piece examining workers? compensation costs and benefits among the various states. There are a few organizations that do this annually. In my opinion, the most scholarly work is done by The National Academy of Social Insurance...

Cavalcade of Risk: Short and Sweet

Posted on November 18, 2009
Jason Shafrin of Healthcare Economist has posted the latest edition of Cavalcade of Risk. It's a pungent mix of interesting items and well worth a few minutes of your time. Readers will be rewarded with a nice precis on the nature and predictability of risk, along with the story of an English company called the French Connection, which achieved notoriety...

Workers Comp Insider Wins Top National Blog Award

Posted on November 17, 2009
Well, bust our balloons and call us surprised! We learned yesterday that the Lexis Nexis Workers? Compensation Law Center has honored the Workers Comp Insider with the award of Top National Workers? Compensation blog of 2009. With so many excellent blogs being written now, we?re proud and humbled at the same time...

The Geography of Health: US vs. Them

Posted on November 16, 2009
Given the discouraging and often appalling level of debate on health insurance in America, it was refreshing to view the PBS Frontline broadcast ?Sick Around the World,? a documentary that dispassionately analyzed different health care systems from five developed countries: Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland...

Hot off the press: Health Wonk Review; other news notes

Posted on November 12, 2009
Louise Norris has posted a very simpsons-esque edition of Health Wonk Review at Colorado Health Insurance Insider. Of course, commentary on the Affordable Health Care for America Act is front and center. This issue is also packed with such diverse topics as limericks and Japanese organized crime bosses...

Promising PTSD and TBI research holds hope for better treating injured veterans

Posted on November 11, 2009
On this Veteran's Day, here's a salute to all the veterans and active military service members out there. In the shadow of the horrific events at Fort Hood, this day of commemoration takes on a particular poignancy. Here at Workers Comp Insider, we have a tendency to view things through the lens of dis-ability and the restoration work-ability because that's...

A Matter of Time: Independent Contractors Morph into Employees

Posted on November 10, 2009
We turn yet again to the ever-troubling issue of independent contractors. In today's case we examine a situation where two individuals, beginning as legitimate independent contractors, morph over time into employees. It's a cautionary tale that demonstrates what is true today may no longer be true tomorrow...

The AIG Saga, Revisited: Gang Wars in Three Piece Suits

Posted on September 29, 2009
AIG may have lost a bit of its swagger - that's what happens when your stock tanks and the government has to bail you out to the tune of $150 billion, give or take a few billion. But tough guys don't dance, they fight back. AIG is suing NCCI and a host of major workers comp carriers (Travelers, The Hartford,...

Imperial Sugar Refinery report: routine housekeeping might have prevented explosion

Posted on September 29, 2009
A year and a half after the Imperial Sugar combustible dust explosion, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) issued its final report on the explosion, which killed 14 workers and injured 36 others, leaving some with permanent, life-altering conditions. In short, the CSB found inadequate housekeeping and maintenance, largely preventable conditions...

Annals of Health: Why Smokers Cannot Quit

Posted on September 28, 2009
In all of our discussions about controlling the cost of workers comp, we continually come up against two lifestyle issues that have a direct impact on costs: obesity and smoking. Let's leave obesity for another day and focus on smoking. According to a compelling article by Stephen Smith in the Boston Globe, 70 percent of smokers want to stop, but...

9-11 Workers Compensation - Report on 45,000 World Trade Center Cases

Posted on September 25, 2009
In September, the New York State Workers' Compensation Board released a 59-page report on World Trade Center Cases in the New York Workers? Compensation System (PDF), along with a reminder that the clock is ticking for rescue and clean-up workers to register service...

This week's assorted news briefs

Posted on September 23, 2009
Spotlight on Rating Agencies - Claire Wilkinson of Insurance Information Institute's blog posts on a public hearing to be held by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tomorrow. Insurance Execs Not Confident of Underwriting Profit Over Next 3 Years - results of annual survey conducted by KPMG Obese Workers? Comp Claims Far Exceed Slimmer Employee Costs - report on...

Not-So-Good Housekeeping

Posted on September 22, 2009
Lucine Williams, 41, worked as a housekeeper for the Hyatt hotel chain in Boston for over 20 years. She earned $15.32 an hour, plus a fairly robust benefit package that included health, dental and a 401(k). That's where Katie Johnson Chases's story begins in the Boston Globe, but it hardly ends there...

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