May 20, 2013 by Fred Hosier

Within the course of one week, an employee suffered an incident involving her leg at home and then another incident involving her leg at work. She applied for workers’ comp, claiming the injuries were caused by the work incident. Her employer denied her comp claim on the grounds that the first incident at home caused her injuries.
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Tags: meniscus tear, Whole Foods, Workers' comp, workplace injury
May 13, 2013 by Fred Hosier
Imagine being able to get an exemption from an OSHA regulation due to who buys your product. The fertilizer plant in Texas that recently exploded, killing 15 people, may have been doing just that.
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Tags: fertilizer plant explosion, OSHA, process safety management, Texas, West
May 6, 2013 by Fred Hosier
One reason for a drug-free workplace policy is employee safety. But how do the growing number of state medical marijuana laws factor into this?
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Tags: Dish Network, medical marijuana, recreational marijuana laws
April 29, 2013 by Fred Hosier
The New Mexico Supreme Court has ordered a trial court to take another look at a case involving a police officer who died while saving a drowning child. Whether he was in the course and scope of his employment at the time will determine if his widow gets workers’ comp death benefits.
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Tags: death benefits, police officer death, save drowning child, Workers' comp
April 22, 2013 by Fred Hosier
A hospital employee was injured while driving home after being called into work to assist with emergency surgery. Does she get workers’ comp?
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Tags: hospital employee, injured on way home from work, on-call employee, Workers' comp
April 15, 2013 by Fred Hosier
“Safety is our top priority.” So said a BP executive in court testimony to determine the company’s liability for the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Where have we heard that before?
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Tags: BP, Deepwater Horizon, safety is our top priority, safety is our top value
April 8, 2013 by Fred Hosier
To watch or not to watch: That used to be the question when it came to collecting urine samples for drug testing. That problem may be eliminated with newer screening tests, according to Quest Diagnostics, which has released new data on positive rates for applicants and workers.
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Tags: drug testing, marijuana, oral drug test, Quest diagnostics, urine sample
April 1, 2013 by Fred Hosier
Probably most of us have had a foot blister due to a pair of shoes that didn’t fit quite right. This employee says his steel-toed boots, required at work, led to a costly medical problem. Did he get workers’ comp for the injury?
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Tags: diabetes, leg amputation, steel-toed boots, Workers' comp
March 25, 2013 by Fred Hosier
When it comes to deciding whether an injured employee should get temporary total disability payments from workers’ comp, just how much do doctors’ opinions matter?
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Tags: doctor's opinion, knee injury, temporary total disability, Workers' comp
March 15, 2013 by Fred Hosier

A Wal-Mart loss prevention employee chased a shoplifter, and in the process, a co-worker was knocked over and killed. Is Wal-Mart liable for the employee’s death? How did employee training factor into this case?
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Tags: exclusive remedy, shoplifter, Workers' comp, wrongful death lawsuit