NM - Court Orders WCA to Reinstate Judge Fired for Inaccurate Time Sheet
05/12/2025 | 0
A federal court ordered the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration to reinstate a judge it fired in November for erroneously indicating on a time sheet that she used two hours of administrative leave to vote.
The U.S. District Court for New Mexico on Friday denied the state’s motion to dismiss a complaint filed by Shanon Riley, one day after it granted her request for a preliminary injunction reinstating her as a workers’ compensation judge.
The court, in granting the injunction, held that Riley is likely to prevail with her due process claims because the Worke...
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A New York appellate court ruled that a worker who was sprayed in the face by sandblasting equipment should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim.
Case: Castellon v. 38 East 85th Street Inc., No. 2022-06455, 04/23/2025, published.
Facts: Elder Castellon allegedly suffered injuries while moving an air compressor and sandblasting equipment at a construction site when the discharge hose disconnected from the sandblaster, causing air and sand to strike him in the face.
The construction site was at a property owned by 38 East 85th Street Inc., and the general contractor was R...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a health care worker’s claim for a knee injury.
Case: Perine v. Genesis Healthcare LLC, No. 24-ICA-415, 04/29/2025, published.
Facts: Laura Perine worked for Genesis Healthcare LLC as a nursing assistant. She allegedly suffered injuries at work in August 2023.
On the day of her alleged injury, Perine went to MedExpress and reported right knee pain but was unable to identify the cause. She was diagnosed with a strain of the hamstring muscle.
About two weeks later, Perine returned to MedExpress and again comp...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld a determination that a worker who fell from a scaffold was an employee of a subcontractor on a construction project as opposed to an independent contractor or special employee of the general contractor.
Case: D&R Construction v. Suarez, Nos. 912 CD 2023 and 913 CD 2023, 04/28/2025, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Hector Suarez fell approximately three floors from scaffolding while working on a construction project in August 2010.
Suarez filed a workers’ compensation claim against D&R Construction. He named Travelers Insu...
Across the nation, providers struggle to treat injured workers without financially damaging their practices. The problem is especially ugly in California, where extreme reimbursement discounting is rampant.
One diabolical discounter is the City of Long Beach, which paid a doctor just $32.08 to treat an injured worker — a mere 22% of the Official Medical Fee Schedule rate and only 33% of the Medicare rate.
This self-insured, self-administering public employer gutted a physician’s reimbursement using a toxic combination of ...
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that a worker’s failure to name his former attorney as a party was fatal to his appeal.
Case: Porter v. Axelon Inc., No. 2024-CA-1030-WC, 05/02/2025, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Kelly Porter worked for Axelon Inc. In March 2017, an administrative law judge found that Porter had suffered a compensable back injury in March 2017 and awarded benefits.
The ALJ issued amended opinions and awards in May and June 2021.
On appeal, the Workers’ Compensation Board affirmed in part the second amended opinion and award and remanded the...
The U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Postal Service illegally reported a worker for reporting a workplace injury.
The letter carrier, whose name is redacted in a copy of the complaint that the Labor Department posted online, broke a finger on her left hand when she slipped and fell while delivering mail on Feb. 17, 2024.
The complaint alleges that the employee’s supervisor instructed that she could not go immediately to the hospital for treatment in her work vehicle and instead needed to return to the post office, complete paperwork and then go to th...
MI - Lawmakers Prepare for Workers' Next Health Emergency
Michigan lawmakers are aiming to create an infectious disease worker safety commission to manage guidance for essential workers in emergencies.
H.B. 4440, introduced Wednesday, would call on the director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to appoint the members of the commission, including labor union officials in health care, law enforcement, food delivery, and both public and private sector management. The commission would also need three individuals who work in health care and specialize in epidemiology or contagious diseases, and two individuals who work in health ca...
A California appeals court annulled a Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board decision ordering arbitration of a coverage dispute to obtain a factual determination of the date of injury for a former New York Yankee who retired in 1978.
A workers’ compensation judge found that the cumulative trauma claim George Zeber filed in 2017 was not barred by the one-year statute of limitations, but the judge never made a finding on the date of injury to determine whether a related coverage dispute could be sent to mandatory arbitration.
Zeber in May 2017 filed a claim, alleging he sustained cum...
A divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a widow was not entitled to an enhanced award of benefits for her husband’s death from inhaling nitrogen-saturated air.
Case: State ex rel. Culver v. Industrial Commission, No. 2025-OHIO-1612, 05/07/2025, published.
Facts: Kenneth Ray Jr. worked for TimkenSteel Corp. as a security guard. His job involved making security checks and inspecting the Timken facility’s fire extinguishers.
On March 20, 2016, Ray entered the elevator control room at the facility to inspect the fire extinguishers inside. The room was pressurized to prevent con...
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law claims against a homeowner for a worker’s alleged fall from a ladder.
Case: Buchanan v. De Orio, No. 2023-05874, 04/23/2025, published.
Facts: In July 2018, Michael De Orio entered into a contract with A-1 Unlimited Services to do work on his home. The contracted work included removing and reinstalling the gutters.
De Orio declined the use of scaffolding for this project, against the advice of Vincent Valenti, the owner of A-1.
John Buchanan worked for A-1, and he worked on the project at De Orio&r...
A Florida appellate court upheld the dismissal of a worker’s claim for benefits, finding that his labor union and employer had a valid and enforceable contractual agreement divesting the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims of jurisdiction over the matter.
Case: Sapp v. Sims Crane & Equipment Co., No. 1D2024-0300, 05/07/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Richard Sapp filed a workers’ compensation claim against Sims Crane & Equipment Co. He allegedly injured his back when he fell while inspecting his crane.
Sims initiated proceedings before the Office o...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a worker had suffered a discrete new injury to his previously injured ankle after twisting it at work.
Case: Marion County Coal Resources v. Mayle, No. 24-ICA-412, 04/29/2025, published.
Facts: Andrew Mayle worked for Marion County Coal Resources. He went to the hospital in January 2024 and reported twisting his right ankle at work.
Mayle underwent X-rays of the ankle that were negative for a fracture or other osseous abnormality. The assessment was a right ankle sprain.
Later that day, Mayle went to see Dr. Jos...
Connecticut lawmakers voted to send the governor a bill that would make various changes to the program providing quasi-workers’ compensation benefits to firefighters with certain types of cancer.
Senate Bill 1426 would expand the types of cancers the program covers to include skin cancer. It would also require the firefighter program to provide benefits in the same way they would be if the cancer was caused by an occupational disease under the state’s workers’ compensation laws.
Additionally, the bill would modify the criteria to qualify for coverage.
Current law requires ...
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill that requires carriers and self-insured employers to make a lump-sum payment of a permanent partial disability award if the injured worker waives reconsideration of a notice of closure or the award has become final by operation of law.
The governor on Wednesday signed House Bill 2802, which had unanimous support in both chambers of the Legislature.
Current law requires a lump-sum payment when requested by the injured worker if he has not waived the right to appeal adequacy, the award has not become final by operation of law, payment is stayed pending...
The maximum temporary total disability benefit in Oregon is increasing by 6.427% on July 1 to match the increase in the state’s average weekly wage.
The Workers’ Compensation Division on Thursday announced that the maximum TD benefit will increase to $1,884.69 from $1,770.87.
Temporary total disability benefits are capped at 133% of the state’s average wage, which increased to $1,417.05 from $1,331.48.
The division on Tuesday announced that the maximum attorney fee is increasing to $6,358 from $5,974 to match the increase in the average wage. The threshold of wages paid in...