CA - High Court Tells 6th DCA to Revisit Equitable Tolling Decision in Light of Mayor
10/22/2026 | 0
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the 6th District Court of Appeal to revisit a 2025 decision holding that equitable tolling can be used to extend the deadline for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to act on petitions for reconsideration in light of the high court's recent decision in Mayor.
The high court in November 2025 granted a petition to review the 6th DCA's August 2025 ruling in City of Salinas et al. v. WCAB, holding that the board did not err when it granted Lance D. Miraco's petition for reconsideration more than 60 days after he filed it.
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A federal court in California dismissed a retaliation complaint that a worker filed against Amazon, saying it was sparsely detailed, hard to follow and failed to adequately allege the requisite elements of his various claims.
Khoja Sohil Samadi, in a complaint initially filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleged that he was injured when a large box landed on his foot while working for Amazon. He claimed that his requests for medical treatment were denied.
Samadi alleged that he was harassed daily by a manager who is identified only by the first name of Joseph, and he r
The Delaware Department of Insurance announced an average 3.99% loss cost reduction, effective Dec. 1.
The department also announced that the residual market will see an average rate reduction of 4.11%.
The department said this is the 10th consecutive rate reduction. It also noted that the new rates will take effect the same day as Senate Bill 248.
The bill updates the Workplace Safety Program to ensure that employers can access full premium savings. The department said earlier legislative changes inadvertently led to lower discounts, and SB 248 creates the ability for companies t
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that laws allowing employers and carriers to recover death benefits paid to the families of deceased workers are not unconstitutional.
"This historical exclusion of the rights of indemnity and subrogation in death benefit claims did not offend the Oklahoma Constitution, nor do their inclusion today," the court said in a decision handed down Tuesday.
Jeremy S. Alexander was in the course and scope of his employment with Rent-A-Center when he was involved in a fatal car crash in March 2018.
Sentinel Insurance Co. paid workers' compensation
California’s Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund serves an important function: to cover treatment and benefits for injured workers whose employers illegally failed to secure comp coverage.
Unfortunately, UEBTF can make it an administrative nightmare for providers to treat the workers it exists to support.
In addition to disregarding payment rules and deadlines (given its murky status as a quasi-claims administrator), UEBTF will not reimburse a provider until the underlying case in chief has been settled, potentially creating sig
The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California announced Wednesday that insurers, agents and brokers can access recently published experience modifications for Jan. 1 policy renewals.
The WCIRB said it has published more than 93% of the 2027 X-mods and that insurers, agents and brokers have multiple ways to access the figures.
Parties that use WCIRB Connect can view the X-mods for a particular policyholder through the online system. Authorized users can also view and download a PDF of published experience rating worksheets, and insurers can search their policies for X-mo
The State of Alabama has filed yet another lawsuit against the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation, which is suspected of failing to maintain workers’ compensation coverage for its employees.
The complaint was filed in Colbert County Circuit Court by the Alabama Department of Workforce in September, according to a report by Fox 54 News. It's the third state lawsuit against the foundation over workers' compensation coverage.
The foundation, based in Sheffield, reportedly has at least five employees, subjecting it to mandatory workers' compensation coverage under st
Injured workers represented by attorneys reported worse physical health and recovery scores than those without legal representation, according to a new report by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The study, however, does not establish whether attorney involvement contributes to poorer recovery or whether other differences between represented and unrepresented workers explain the gap.
WCRI identified two possible explanations for its findings: Workers with more complicated injuries may be more likely to hire attorneys and less likely to recover fully, or attorney involve
A New York appellate court upheld a decision by the Workers’ Compensation Board denying the reopening, rehearing or reconsideration of a worker’s claim.
Case: Matter of Buscemi v. Prime Care Coordination, No. CV-23-0761, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Aaron Buscemi worked as a manager of quality and compliance for Prime Care Coordination. He filed a workers’ compensation claim alleging that he sustained injuries to the head, eyes and ears in the form of migraines as a result of working in an office in a warehouse.
Procedural history: A workers’ compensation law judge
The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a worker suffered a compensable back injury, even though he was "a dubious historian."
Case: Wood v. SB Manufacturing Inc., No. 128,592, 10/16/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Thomas Wood worked for SB Manufacturing Inc. He injured his back at work in March 2022.
Wood saw a chiropractor who said Wood reported hurting his back when he fell into a bathtub at home.
The chiropractor referred Wood to an affiliated medical doctor, who treated Wood with an injection of Toradol.
Wood received no other documented treatment, but several of
A New York appellate court upheld the denial of a transit worker’s claim for post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by cleaning up the blood from a passenger’s accident.
Case: Matter of Brown v. New York City Transit Authority, No. CV-23-2457, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Julius Brown worked for the New York City Transit Authority. In September 2020, he was informed of an accident on a platform.
Brown responded and observed a woman whose foot had been mangled after being caught between the platform and a train door. After emergency medical personnel took her to the hospital,
Seven construction contractors have been cited for willful and serious safety violations related to excavation hazards at a large jobsite in Monroe, according to an announcement from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA said struck-by, cave-in, fall and chemical hazards posed danger to workers at the 18-acre Monroe Commons project site northwest of New York City. Excavation resulted in the formation of a steep, unstable embankment nearly 75 feet high that was not properly sloped or shored against a potential collapse, OSHA said.
The federal work safety agenc
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is holding a hearing Dec. 3 to take testimony on proposed rules that would implement Labor Code changes creating penalties for "enterprise-wide" and "egregious" violations.
Senate Bill 606, signed in 2021, created the new classifications of citations.
Enterprise-wide violations occur when an employer with more than one worksite either has a written policy and procedure that violates safety and health standards or exhibits a pattern or practice of the same violation or violations at more than one worksite.
An egreg
The Oklahoma Attorney General said state lawmakers can decide how to spend nearly $500,000 held in a pair of funds created as part of the failed bid to bring a Texas-style opt-out option to employers.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond on Wednesday opined that the $201,697 held in the Oklahoma Option Insured Guaranty Fund and the $277,723 in the Option Self-Insured Guaranty Fund are no longer being held in trust following the 2019 repeal of the Oklahoma Employee Injury Benefit Act.
"The Legislature should exercise sound judgment in accordance with Article V, Sections 36 and 55 of t
The New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division upheld a 24% increase in a worker’s permanent impairment from the second of two back injuries.
Case: Lawhon v. County of Monmouth, No. A-3070-24, 10/14/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Jason Lawhon worked for the County of Monmouth as a heavy equipment operator. He injured his back at work in October 2021.
Lawhon worked for the county full time, and starting in 2023, he began working an additional 20 hours each week at Home Depot. According to Lawhon, he began working part time at Home Depot to make ends meet because his wife lost her
A divided Illinois Appellate Court ruled that a university employee’s injury that happened during a costume contest at a mandatory work meeting was not compensable.
Case: Mirretti v. IWCC, No. 3-26-0126WC, 10/13/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Armaline Mirretti worked for Elmhurst University in the Office of Admissions. She filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that she had injured her right foot and ankle in October 2023.
At the hearing on Mirretti’s claim, witnesses testified that Elmhurst (whose mascot is the bluejay) holds a mandatory meeting, called the B
