IA - No Benefits for Worker's Adverse Reaction to COVID-19 Vaccine
08/26/2026 | 0
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
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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
Jacksonville, FL – July 10, 2026 – PhysNet welcomes Michelle Despres, PT, EMBA as Chief Operating Officer, strengthening its leadership team as the company enters its next stage of national growth.
A licensed physical therapist and seasoned healthcare executive, Michelle brings a strong blend of clinical insight, operational leadership, and people-centered strategy. S
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
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
A campus officer at the Yale University Police Department was arrested and charged with workers' compensation fraud, the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice announced.
Warren Palmer, 59, is accused of receiving $38,656 in indemnity benefits to which he was not entitled, the division said.
Palmer reported injuries to his ribs and abdomen while performing martial arts at the department's training center in November 2025. He was placed on temporary total disability and later transferred to temporary partial disability.
"Documentation showed that while receiving payments, he e
The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld the summary dismissal of a civil suit against a hospital for the death of an immunocompromised emergency room nurse after she contracted COVID-19.
Case: Powell v. Natchez Hospital Co. LLC, No. 2024-CA-01054-COA, 08/18/2026, published.
Facts: Sandra Powell worked as an emergency room charge nurse for Natchez Hospital Co. LLC.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment, including a mastectomy, in 2013.
After the cancer recurred in 2018, Powell received further treatment, including at least three cycles of chemotherapy.
In Decemb
The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a compensable injury aggravated a worker’s preexisting ankle condition, which resulted in her need for surgery.
Case: North Arkansas College v. Sparks, No. CV-25-580, 08/19/2026, published.
Facts: Terri Sparks worked for North Arkansas College as a test proctor. She tripped and fell at work in January 2022, injuring her ankle.
In February 2022, Sparks went to Ozark Orthopedic. The notes from that visit state that Sparks had a right ankle sprain from the fall as well as a preexisting ankle injury that underwent arthroscopic debr
The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that a worker’s cervical spine injury claim was time-barred.
Case: Conrad v. Food Lion, No. 0117-25-2, 08/18/2026, unpublished.
Facts: James Conrad was injured in April 2019 while working for Food Lion.
Dr. Bradley C. Carofino diagnosed a right rotator cuff tear and cervical abnormalities, including a disk extrusion and foraminal stenosis, and referred Conrad to Dr. David Clifford, a cervical spine specialist. Conrad underwent shoulder surgery in July 2019 and a second shoulder surgery in August 2020.
In January 2020, Clifford ordered an EMG,
The Utah Supreme Court ruled that an employer waived a limitations defense by not seeking relief on it, and that an administrative law judge’s ruling on the issue did not preserve it for appeal.
Chinyu James Sun worked for Darden Restaurant. He was working in the kitchen at a St. George Olive Garden in July 2020 when he slipped and fell.
Two of Sun’s co-workers helped him to his feet, and he finished his shift.
He filed a workers’ compensation claim but did not notify his employer of his injuries within 180 days of the accident.
Utah Code Section 34A-2-407(2)(a) requ
A recently amended bill would add naturopathic doctors to the list of providers who are allowed to serve as primary treating physicians in California's workers' compensation system.
Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, on Thursday amended SB 1303, a sunset review bill originally intended to authorize the California Board of Naturopathic Medicine to continue operating through 2031, to also propose expanding their scope of practice.
Adding naturopathic doctors to the list of providers included in Labor Code Section 3209.3 would allow them to serve as the primary treating physicians, making the
