CA - Lawmaker Drops PTP Provision From Naturopath Bill
08/27/2026 | 0
California lawmakers have spiked a controversial proposal to allow naturopaths to serve as primary treating physicians in the workers' compensation system.
Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, on Tuesday accepted amendments recommended by the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions and stripped from SB 1303 several recently added provisions that would have expanded the scope of practice for naturopaths. The committee voted 17-0 to pass the amended bill, which now heads to the Assembly floor.
Wahab had amended the bill Aug. 20 to add a provision that would have added naturopathic doctors t
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A Texas appellate court ruled that the claims brought by two doctors against a hospital for their on-the-job radiation exposure were healthcare liability claims subject to the requirements of the Texas Medical Liability Act.
Case: Shannon Medical Center v. Sickels, No. 15-25-00167-CV, 08/25/2026, published.
Facts: Dr. Michael Sickels and Dr. James Christopher Cole both worked as radiologists at Shannon Medical Center for more than 20 years. Both received skin cancer diagnoses and had to undergo multiple invasive surgical procedures.
Procedural history: The doctors sued Shanno
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker struck by a swinging steel beam should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim.
Case: Sougstad v. OLP Hauppauge LLC, No. 2024-08889, 08/19/2026, published.
Facts: Eric Sougstad allegedly suffered injuries while working at a construction site.
According to Sougstad, he was hurt while he and a co-worker unloaded a delivery of steel beams and "shaking out" the steel, a process that involved using spreader hooks attached to a crane to lift the beams off the truck and place them on the ground.
Sougsta
The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a decision vacating an award to a worker for his contraction of COVID-19 and remanding for the administrative law judge to reexamine the worker’s communicable disease claim.
Case: Russellville Electric Plant Board v. Thomas, No. 2025-SC-0422-WC, 08/20/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Christopher Thomas worked for the Russellville Electric Plant Board supervising a crew of four linemen.
Thomas’ crew shared an office and frequently ate meals together. The crew also shared transportation to various worksites via REPB-owned trucks.
REPB also provided
An injured worker picked up her prescription for diclofenac 2% gel, a common generic topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat pain, at her local Walgreens. Walgreens charged $53.64 for the drug.
But the worker was urged to switch pharmacies. She was steered to a “workers’
compensation” pharmacy that charged the employer $2,955.02 for the same drug — more than 55 times the Walgreens price.
There is nothing exceptional about this scenario. Some workers’ compensation pharmacies charge up to 100 times more than normal retail pharmacies.
Workers
A Connecticut police officer receiving workers' compensation benefits for a knee injury was charged with fraud after he passed a fitness exam as part of the application process for another police department.
Ryan Dunn, 28, received temporary partial disability benefits for a knee injury that he said resulted from trying to push his Norwich Police Department patrol vehicle out of the snow in February.
The Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said an investigation revealed that while Dunn was receiving TPD benefits, he also received medical clearance from a doctor to participate in a P
Connecticut prosecutors announced fraud charges against a nurse accused of failing to disclose her outside employment while she collected workers' compensation benefits.
In 2021, Tashia McKenzie, 36, reported a back injury while working at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. She received temporary partial and total temporary disability benefits.
The Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said its investigation found that McKenzie was employed by Hale Home Care, performing duties similar to those of a certified nursing assistant as a home health care provider.
Addition
The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld a denial of benefits for a worker’s adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Larry Driscoll worked as a water distribution manager for the City of Cedar Rapids during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, the city published a weekly newsletter for its employees addressing COVID-19 safety guidelines and vaccine updates.
Once the COVID-19 vaccine was available, the publications encouraged employees to get vaccinated and announced that they could use two hours of their work time for a vaccine appointment.
The city also sent em
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that a workers’ compensation judge erred in addressing an employer’s termination petition and two utilization review petitions before holding a hearing on the approval of a settlement.
Case: Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania v. Braas, No. 481 C.D. 2025, 08/20/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Natalie Braas worked for the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania as a nurse. She suffered injuries in January 2021 while moving a patient.
The university accepted liability for an upper-back strain. A worke
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was not entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his alleged injuries from a fall at a construction site.
Case: Tobon v. Ryder Construction Inc., Nos. 2024-12903 and 2025-03823, 08/19/2026, published.
Facts: Jose Tobon allegedly suffered injuries while performing construction work on premises owned by LS-14 Ave LLC.
Ryder Construction Inc. was acting as the general contractor and hired Tobon’s employer, Glenco Contracting Group Inc., as a subcontractor.
Tobon was placing rubber caps on the end of exposed rebar when he bypa
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries cited Nippon Dynawave for failing to document its safety plans or keep required records relating to an ammonia tank used to treat wastewater, a violation the agency said was not related to its inspection into a fatal tank collapse in May.
A chemical tank holding more than 500,000 gallons of a caustic solution used to turn wood chips into pulp collapsed at a Nippon Dynawave mill in Longview on May 26, killing 11 workers.
L&I had already opened an investigation into the company before the fatal accident.
The citation stems from an in
The Oregon Workers' Compensation Division will hold a virtual hearing on Sept. 17 to discuss the Workers' Benefit Fund assessment rate for 2027.
The WBF assessment finances return-to-work programs as well as cost-of-living increases for workers with permanent and total disabilities. Employers must pay at least half of the assessment and can deduct up to half from workers' wages.
The division last year set the assessment rate at 1.8 cents per hour worked.
The analysis to determine the 2027 rate is ongoing and will be announced by mid-September, the division said in a hearing noti
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that the owner of a contracting firm who allegedly fled a job after receiving a stop-work order for not carrying comp coverage has been formally charged.
Carlos Amparo, owner of CNC Contract, allegedly employed three workers without maintaining workers' compensation for about four months beginning in January.
According to court papers, officials investigating a construction business working at a hotel in Newport found that the project had been subcontracted to CAC Contract. Investigators issued a stop-work order, saying it would be
Judge Jeffrey Tobin, an arbitrator with the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, died Saturday at the age of 65.
Tobin practiced law for nearly 40 years with firms including Pratt and Tobin in East Alton; Davis and Davis Law in Barre, Vermont; and Thomas, McNeeley and Tobin in Jacksonville.
He left private practice to serve as an arbitrator for the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission.
He also served as a judge for the 7th Judicial Court since October 2011.
Tobin graduated from Illinois College, where he earned his bachelor's degree, before attending Thomas Cool
The California Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's practice of self-tolling the 60-day statutory deadline to rule on petitions for reconsideration.
The court, in Joseph Mayor v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (Ross Valley Sanitation District), held that Labor Code Section 5909, which deems a petition for reconsideration to be denied by operation of law if not acted upon within 60 days, is not fundamentally jurisdictional, acknowledging that there might be some cases where due process permits the WCAB to act outside of the statutory deadl
California lawmakers appear to have backed away from a proposed five-year pilot project in which district attorneys in Santa Clara and Alameda counties would have handled investigations of workplace accidents resulting in death.
Other changes to AB 2321 would eliminate language that would have required immediate investigations of incidents causing serious injuries, and immediate review of inspection reports for serious violations. A new provision would make it a misdemeanor to willfully resist or interfere with Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigators.
On Friday, Assemblymemb
