In North Carolina, if an employer willfully fails to comply with any statutory requirement or an order of the Industrial Commission, an employee’s injury compensation is increased ten percent. If however an employee is injured because he willfully violated a safety rule set by the employer, then his injury compensation will be reduced if (1) [...]
We recently had a client diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis because of his exposure to hot temperatures as part of his job doing lawn maintenance. Rhabdomyolysis is a rare syndrome in which skeletal striated muscle tissue breaks down rapidly. The breakdown products of damaged muscle cells, such as myoglobin, are released into the bloodstream and may lead [...]
Becton, Dickinson and was recently fined by OSHA for workplace hazards leading to partial amputations of workers' fingers. Today's post comes from guest author Rod Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.“Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Charlie Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.Check out this article about the large Wisconsin home improvement retailer, Menards, and their previous disregard of workers' rights: Menards Promises Changes After Violations of Federal Labor Laws. As other stories have outlined,the company's handbook allegedly threatened penalties for supervisors if they managed stores [...]
Foot drop describes the inability of a person to lift his or her foot at the ankle due to weakness or paralysis of the muscles that lift the foot. Foot drop can be caused by several things including: an injury to the spinal cord, an injury to the nerve that controls the muscles involved in [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case, from Causey Law Firm.Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Carter writes that the Port of Bellingham has been ordered to pay $16M in damages to an Alaska Ferries employee injured in 2012. The verdict was returned Friday, April 1st, after a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Marsha [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Charlie Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.As this article correctly notes, "Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing"! Our work comp colleague in Pennsylvania are facing further attacks on their workers' compensation system. The article astutely points out: "Across the country, in state houses largely influenced by insurance industry interests, there [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Charlie Domer, from The Domer Law Firm. For all those concerned about worker’s compensation in our country—which really is all citizens—take a look at this important report on the current status of worker’s compensation systems. The report, from the Worker’s Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG) highlights the scary [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case, from Causey Law Firm.The American Nursing Association's Handle with Care campaign seeks to educate, advocate, and facilitate change from traditional practices of manual patient handling to emerging, technology-oriented methods. The campaign seeks to highlight how safe patient handling produces benefits to patients and the nursing workforce. The ANA's Handle with [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Thomas Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.Legislatures around the country (including ours in Wisconsin) seem to be preoccupied with employee fraud in workers'’ compensation, despite overwhelming evidence that employee fraud is virtually nonexistent. Employer fraud, however, continues to plague the industry. Over the last decade, my friend and colleague [...]