TX - Bills Would Allow Contested Case Hearings by Videoconference
03/17/2025 | 0
Texas lawmakers have introduced three bills that would address a request by the Division of Workers' Compensation to allow contested case hearings by videoconference.
House Bill 2488, Senate Bill 67 and Senate Bill 423 would each allow remote contested case hearings.
Other bills introduced this year address coverage requirements for contractors, compensability of post-traumatic stress disorder claims, and death benefits.
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation, in a biennial report to the Legislature submitted in November, asked for a statutory change allowing contested case hea...
Read More
A federal appellate refused to revive a lawsuit brought by an administrative law judge who says executives at the New York State Workers' Compensation Board violated his 1st Amendment rights by rescinding a promotion after watching a video of him arguing with a train conductor about masking policies during the pandemic.
R. Michael Cestaro was a compensation claims referee in August 2021 when he was offered a promotion to senior compensation claims referee and administrative law judge. The promotion was scheduled to take effect Sept 2, 2021.
On Aug. 28, 2021, Cestaro got into an argument ...
A Texas appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a widow’s claim against her late husband’s employer for his death from COVID-19 as barred by state law.
Case: Gonzalez v. CS Auto Ltd., No. 13-23-00269-CV, 03/13/2025, published.
Facts: South Texas Buick GMC remained open for business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Leonzo Gonzalez worked for the dealership, and he fell ill in July 2020.
He was later diagnosed with COVID-19, hospitalized and died.
Procedural history: Gonzalez’s widow filed suit against South Texas Buick GMC, alleging claims for premises liability, ...
An Ohio appellate court upheld the denial of temporary total disability benefits to a worker who failed to show up for a light-duty position that his doctor said was within his capabilities.
Case: State ex rel. Papageorgiou v. Avalotis Corp., No. 23AP-689, 03/13/2025, published.
Facts: Evangelo Papageorgiou worked for Avalotis Corp. He injured his neck at work in May 2018 and underwent surgery on the day of the injury.
On June 5, 2018, Dr. Jason Young advised Papageorgiou that he could return to light-duty work with no heavy lifting.
On June 26, 2018, Dr. John Dunne learned that Papageorgi...
Before you engage in any negotiation, you need to prepare by understanding the issues from your point of view and your opponent’s.
It’s not enough to have a general idea. You need to spend some time on this and record how you will address these issues.
Too many negotiators forget to pay attention to that agenda once the negotiation commences. They don’t listen to the other side’s information. Confirmation bias may lead them to not pay full attention. This can lead to missing important nuances that would otherwise be pivotal in settling the case.
Take notes
If yo...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the authorization of bilateral medial branch nerve blocks for a worker’s back injury.
Case: Blackhawk Mining LLC v. Argabright, No. 24-ICA-311, 02/28/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Harris Argabright worked for Blackhawk Mining LLC. He suffered injuries to his back and pelvis while at work in February 2021.
Argabright underwent a lumbar spine X-ray the day after his accident. The results revealed no acute lumbar spine abnormality, mild grade 1 retrolisthesis of L3 on L4 with mild L3-L4 disc space narro...
A New York appellate court upheld the dismissal of a worker’s Labor Law claim for alleged injuries at an out-of-state jobsite, but he could proceed with a negligence claim.
Case: Ramirez-Gomez v. Empire Today LLC, Nos. 2023-02467 and 2023-05190, 03/05/2025, published.
Facts: Alejandro Ramirez-Gomez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property in New Jersey when a radiator fell on him.
Procedural history: Ramirez-Gomez filed suit against Empire Today LLC and Kennedy All Flooring LLC for negligence and violations of the Labor Law.
Ramirez-Gomez cont...
The California Division of Workers' Compensation on Friday announced an update to the ambulance services section of the Official Medical Fee Schedule.
The division said the fee schedule needs to be updated to conform to changes in the Medicare payment system for the second fiscal quarter. The update includes only revised ZIP code files. The division said other provisions of the ambulance fee schedule are unchanged.
The update applies to services provided on or after April 1.
The division's announcement notes that the updates are in accordance with Labor Code Section 5307.1.
Senate ...
A California appeals court said workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for the family and estate of a school district volunteer who was killed in a fatal accident during a food drive.
The 1st District Court of Appeal, in a published decision handed down Wednesday, said the school district in 2012 adopted a resolution under Labor Code Section 3364.5 and declared its intent to treat volunteers as employees covered by work comp. The court also said death clearly falls under the definition of "injury."
Catherine Kuo, 48, died from injuries she sustained when she was hit...
A New York appellate court partially revived a worker’s Labor Law action for his injuries from a cart mishap.
Case: Ramos v Kent & Wythe Owners LLC, No. 2020-05704, 03/05/2025, published.
Facts: Vidal Ramos worked for R&M Repairs and Maintenance Inc., a subcontractor hired by the L&M Builders Group LLC to perform cleaning services at a building under construction.
Ramos was using an A-frame cart to move drywall across an unfinished concrete floor at the construction site when the cart overturned, trapping his legs.
Procedural history: Ramos filed suit against L...
A federal appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of an injured worker’s claims of discrimination and retaliation.
Case: Brown v. Conagra Brands Inc., No. 22-3324, 03/12/2025, published.
Facts: Judy Brown, a biracial woman, began working for Conagra Brands Inc. in 1997. She became disabled in 2015 after suffering a workplace injury and filed a workers’ compensation claim in 2017.
As an accommodation, Conagra temporarily transferred Brown from her position as a forklift operator to packaging machine operator. The company also transferred one of its packaging machine operator...
An Ohio appellate court ruled that a retired railway worker stated a viable claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for his cumulative trauma injuries, so a grant of summary judgment dismissing his entire action had not been appropriate.
Case: Wilson v. CSX Transportation Inc., No. C-240284, 03/12/2025, published.
Facts: Edward Wilson worked for CSX Transportation Inc. and its predecessor from 1978 to 2014. The positions he held over the years all involved intensive manual labor, including repeated lifting, squatting and carrying heavy objects. Wilson claimed that th...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits for a worker’s back injury.
Case: BET Ltd. v. May, No. 24-ICA-296, 02/28/2025, published.
Facts: James May worked for BET Ltd. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he injured his back at work in September 2020.
Before this alleged incident, May received treatment for low-back pain. He had preexisting diagnoses of sacroiliitis, lumbosacral spondylosis, lumbar radiculopathy and chronic pain syndrome.
After the alleged injury, May reported low-back pain that radiated down his lef...
MA - Bill Would Require Comp Carriers to Pay for Cannabis
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would amend state law to require workers' compensation insurers to cover medical marijuana.
House Bill 2169, by Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, now with the House and Senate Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development after being introduced on Feb. 27, states that reasonable and necessary service costs "may include reimbursement for medical cannabis provided to injured employees who are qualifying patients, or their personal caregiver, certified by a health care professional.”
The bill would delete language in st...
The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a police officer timely filed his claim for post-traumatic stress disorder almost a decade after the event that triggered his condition.
Tyken Solie began working for the City of Phoenix as a patrol officer in 2001. In 2011, Solie responded to a home invasion call that resulted in a shootout and a fatality.
After this incident, Solie began experiencing anxiety, sadness and had difficulty sleeping.
In February 2020, Solie met with Shawna Peters, a licensed professional counselor. She diagnosed Solie with "unspecified trauma" a...
A New York appellate court ruled that a Labor Law defendant should have been granted partial summary judgment dismissing a worker’s claims.
Case: Cruz v. PMG Construction Group LLC, No. 158528/18, 03/04/2025, published.
Facts: Bryan Cruz suffered injuries while working on a construction project when a large window, weighing more than 200 pounds, tipped over and struck his legs.
Before the accident, the window was leaning against a stack of other windows, all similar in size and all of which were propped up against the wall.
Cruz had just removed a suction c...