A 12-year battle regarding hearing loss between Murphy Oil and a group of its former workers has ended with a decision against the company. Now the company must pay up.
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Tags: hearing loss, Murphy Oil, Workers' comp
A security surveillance agent monitoring 38 video screens started to put his legs on his desk to revive circulation. His chair tipped over and he was thrown to the floor, sustaining injuries. Will a court allow him to get workers’ comp for those injuries?
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Tags: fell over in chair, Fitzgeralds casino, in scope of employment, Nevada, personal comfort doctrine
Want fewer injuries at work? Perhaps your company should encourage employees to join weight loss and exercise programs.
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Tags: Falls, obese workers, obesity, sleep apnea, wellness programs
According to a new study, poor economic conditions have made it more difficult for some employers to offer light, transitional or modified duty for injured workers.
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Tags: light duty, return to work, Workers' comp
Some experts advise companies to make light-duty tasks for injured workers tedious to help motivate the employees to return to their regular tasks. It appears this injured worker’s light duty was so boring that she fell asleep on the job.
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Tags: light duty, wage benefits, Workers' comp
I don’t get it. Why deny him? I’m speechless. I don’t understand the denial. Those are some of the comments readers left on a story we ran in October about a Joplin, MO, tornado hero who was denied workers’ comp benefits. Now the insurance company has had a change of heart.
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Tags: denied workers' comp benefits, hero, Joplin tornado, Mark Lindquist
Insurance companies have a new tool to catch workers trying to commit workers’ comp fraud, and it’s as close as a computer screen.
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Tags: Facebook, fraud, Twitter, Workers' comp, YouTube
It’s been said that if both sides in a dispute are unhappy with you, you must be doing something right. That could be the situation involving the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) since it faces two separate lawsuits …
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Tags: lawsuit, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Workers' comp
An employee was exposed to harmful dust at work due to an inadequate ventilation system. He had also been a smoker for many years — from one to four packs per day. Can he get workers’ comp for his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)?
Tags: breathing, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cobalt dust, COPD, Workers' comp
On his way to work, an employee parks his car and walks to the facility entrance. He slips, falls, and seriously injures his knee on an icy/snowy sidewalk. The incident didn’t occur on the company’s property. Despite that, the company is still on the hook for workers’ comp. Why?
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Tags: icy sidewalk, slip and fall, Workers' comp
When social services worker Mark Lindquist knew the Joplin, MO, tornado was approaching, he jumped into action to protect three developmentally disabled adults in a group home from harm. Now a workers’ comp insurer says it won’t pay for Lindquist’s extensive injuries that have cost him $2.5 million so far.
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Tags: Joplin tornado, risk, Workers' comp
The law caught up with a Toledo, OH, man who was captured on video working on a roofing job while receiving workers’ comp benefits.
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Tags: roofing, Video, workers' comp fraud
When a business owner filed an insurance claim to collect benefits for the family of an employee killed in a wood chipper, state authorities discovered alleged fraud.
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Tags: tree trimming, wood-chipper death, workers' comp fraud
Workers’ comp experts agree: One of the worst moves you can make with injured employees is to let them think you’re an adversary. After all, there are plenty of lawyers looking to befriend them.
You know it isn’t safe to talk on the phone to an employee who’s driving. But this case seems to suggest that you’re better off not even knowing your employee’s cell phone number.
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A worker with chemical sensitivity who is also called “a fairly heavy smoker” by a doctor says exposure to substances at work caused her to be permanently and totally disabled. Can she prove that, and can she get workers’ comp?
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Tags: anhydrous ammonia, bleach, chemical sensitivity, methyl bromide, pesticides, Russell Stover, smoker, Workers' comp
A federal court has ruled that three former Chicago Bears players can’t file for workers’ comp benefits in California and should file in Illinois instead. This appears to end the players’ attempt to file in a state with better benefits.
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Tags: Chicago Bears, NFL, NFL Players Association, Workers' comp
Imagine this: A worker is injured and returns to light duty work. After a while he says he “can’t stand it anymore” and asks to be laid off. Then he turns around and applies for full workers’ comp benefits. Did he get them?
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Tags: lay off, light duty, neck and back injury, partial disability benefits, total disability benefits, Workers' comp
Should a company’s workers’ comp insurer continue to pay an injured worker who skips medical appointments, doesn’t communicate with doctors and leaves vulgar voice mails for a case worker?
Tags: doesn't communicate, end workers' comp payments, severe pain, skips medical appointments, uncooperative worker, vulgar voice mail
A worker whose job it was to collect overdue cable TV bills, disconnect service and retrieve cable boxes was assaulted while disconnecting service at an apartment complex. Is he eligible for workers’ comp coverage?
Tags: Boxco, cable boxes, collect cable bills, Workers' comp, workplace assault
What happens when a worker quits after an injury and then decides she deserves bigger workers’ comp payments?
Tags: assembly line, carpal tunnel syndrome, Nissan, reconsideration of benefits, Workers' comp
As a person in charge of workplace safety, you’re well aware of the impact that workers’ comp premiums have on businesses. What if you had to obtain similar coverage for someone taking care of a child or elderly relative?
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Tags: babysitters, Babysitters Bill, California, Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, Workers' comp
What’s the penalty for not having workers’ comp insurance? In some cases, like this one, it’s jail.
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Tags: contractor, jail, Workers' comp
Imagine this: Employees at a work site have some down time while waiting for materials to arrive. To amuse themselves while waiting, they try to smash a bowling ball with a sledge hammer. An employee is injured. Does the injury quality for workers’ comp benefits?
Tags: bowling ball, goofing off, Pennsylvania, positive work order violation, sledge hammer, Workers' comp
Nationwide, workers’ comp costs are down due to higher unemployment rates. However, costs have gone up in some states. Where does your state fall?
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Tags: cash benefits, medical benefits, National Academy of Social Insurance, workers' comp costs
Dealing with workers’ comp is frustrating enough. But losing a case over a technicality is even more so.
Tags: light duty, rehabilitation, shoulder injury, Workers' comp
A worker was injured while he was on his lunch break but still on company property. Does the injury qualify for workers’ comp benefits?
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Tags: arising out of employment, bicycle, nursing home, startled by rabbit, Workers' comp
An employee was talking on his company-issued cell phone to a co-worker in his own car when he was shot in the face by someone in a passing vehicle. A ruling says he should receive workers’ comp benefits because he was on the company cell phone at the time of the shooting.
Tags: cell phones, coming-and-going rule, principal shot, school gangs, Workers' comp
What if you could predict which employees would cost your company more in workers’ comp?
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Tags: drug or alcohol abuse, integrity tests, lying, violence, Workers' comp
Did this company fire a worker for seeking medical treatment for a workplace injury, or was this a case of miscommunication? A jury made the call.
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Tags: back injury, back pain, Family Medical Leave, physical therapy, punitive damages, seek medical treatment
For workers who travel as part of their jobs, workers’ compensation covers certain kinds of injuries involved with the travel itself — no question about that. Then, there’s this case …
Tags: Australia, business trip, injuries involved with travel, workers' compensation
Workers’ comp cheats can be caught, as this case — and video — show.
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Tags: neck injury, prison, torticollis, workers' comp fraud
A state workers’ compensation law requires employees to give proper notice of a workplace injury to employers to receive benefits. The question in this case: Did a series of communications between employee and employer add up to proper notice?
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Tags: carpal tunnel, lifting restriction, proper notification, Workers' comp
When it comes to workers’ comp benefits, is employee hearing loss over a long period of time different from other injuries suffered in the workplace? The answer is key in a lawsuit by more than 40 workers.
Tags: hearing loss, long-term exposure, Louisiana, refinery, Workers' comp
Think about this the next time you’re watching a football game: NFL players have many of the same rights as other types of employees to collect workers’ compensation benefits if they’re injured on the job. And the fact pro football players travel for their jobs gives them a workers’ comp advantage.
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Tags: California, Florida, NFL, shop cases, Workers' comp
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