CA - Employers Anticipate Comprehensive Reforms in 2027
07/09/2026 | 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Employers are gearing up for negotiations over permanent disability benefits and broader reforms next year, the chief lobbyist for the California Coalition on Workers' Compensation said Wednesday.
The goal of the reforms is to balance any increase in benefits with potential changes to medical delivery processes and savings on medical-legal costs and cumulative trauma claims, Jason Schmelzer said during the CCWC 22nd Annual Conference and Legislative and Educational Forum at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel.
Schmelzer said he was hopeful that SB 555, which
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The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that once the Industrial Claim Appeals Office receives the certified record in a workers’ compensation benefits appeal, it cannot extend the 60-day time frame for issuing an order.
Case: Aragon v. ICAO, No. 25CA1303, 07/02/2026, published.
Facts: Philip Aragon worked for Waste Management of Colorado. He allegedly fell while stepping down from a truck at work in July 2020.
Aragon initially told Waste Management that he did not believe he was seriously injured, and he declined medical treatment. Waste Management still reported the accident to its insu
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that a district court has equitable jurisdiction to vacate an order of the compensation court.
Case:1 Cono Contracting LLC v. Lopez, No. S-25-859, 07/02/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: The Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court entered an award against Mauro Rubio and 1 Cono Contracting LLC, in favor of Catarino Lopez.
After the award was filed in the district court, Rubio asked it to vacate. Rubio filed his complaint to vacate as a new case, rather than the case in which the award had been made.
He alleged that the award was pr
An Ohio appellate court upheld an award of permanent total disability benefits for a healthcare worker’s back injury.
Case: State ex rel. HCR ManorCare Inc. v. Industrial Commission, No. 24AP-729, 06/16/2026, published.
Facts: Patricia R. Baese worked for HCR ManorCare Inc. She suffered injuries at work in November 2011.
The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation accepted Baese’s claim for lumbosacral strain, herniated disc L5-S1 and bilateral sacroiliitis.
Dr. Rohn T. Kennington examined Baese in October 2023. Kennington opined that she was permanently and totally di
The single most important thing a workers’ compensation program can do to reduce costs and improve outcomes for injured workers is also the simplest: Report claims promptly.
Prompt reporting enables prompt determination of compensability. Prompt compensability determination enables prompt provision of quality medical care. Prompt care shortens recovery. Shorter recovery reduces litigation. And litigation — not medical costs, not indemnity, not administrative expense — is the largest cost driver in the system.
Every other intervention operates downstream of that chain. T
A New York appellate court ruled that part of a worker’s Labor Law action should have been dismissed on summary judgment, and that the third-party defendants were both entitled to partial summary judgment on the claims against them as well.
Case: Santacruz v. 58 Gerry Street LLC, No. 23434/19, 06/25/2026, published.
Facts: Jose Orlando Estela Santacruz worked as a carpenter for Capital Concrete NY Inc. and Great Maintenance NY Inc.
While he was removing concrete forms from an elevator space, a long metal jack/post used to shore up decking for ceiling concrete forms fell against h
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the expansion of a worker’s claim to include additional injuries from being struck by an excavator.
Case: Rob Juszczak Construction v. Juszczak, No. 26-ICA-16, 06/30/2026, published.
Facts: John Juszczak worked for Rob Juszczak Construction. He suffered injuries at work in January 2020 when he was struck by an excavator.
Juszczak went to the hospital that day. A computed tomography angiograph of his neck revealed no evidence of traumatic arterial injury involving the major cervical arteries; two focal areas of severe
NATL. - Authorities Getting Serious About Heat Protection
New York City and Colorado are moving ahead with workplace heat protections as employers face an increasingly fragmented patchwork of state and local requirements, while a federal heat standard remains unfinished.
With nine states now having policies in place, the moves are a sign that employers everywhere should take notice of the heat dangers facing workers, experts say.
“Heat illness prevention is moving from a seasonal workplace safety issue to a more formal compliance and enforcement issue,” said Joy Chin, principal in the Melville, New York, office of law firm Jackson Lewis
In a case of first impression, a Texas appellate court ruled that the Liability Arising From Farm Animals Act applied to a worker’s fatal accident, even though his death was not caused directly by the actions of a farm animal.
Randal and Beverly Kinnibrugh own and raise cattle. Their son, Kyle Kinnibrugh, worked for them as a ranch hand, as did Richard Poteet.
Randal and Kyle Kinnibrugh were working together with Poteet to vaccinate cows in November 2024. To administer the vaccines, they secured each cow into a hydraulic squeeze chute.
Kyle Kinnibrugh operated levers that opened
A federal appellate court ruled that a healthcare worker raised a viable claim of disability discrimination against her employer for denying her request for a medical exemption from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine because of a condition caused by a work-related injury.
Case: Klimek v. CentraCare Health System, No. 25-1837, 06/15/2026, published.
Facts: Christine Klimek is a registered nurse who suffered an injury while working for CentraCare Health System in 2010. Klimek then developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
In 2016, CentraCare instituted a policy requiring all employees to get&nb
A Louisiana appellate court ruled that a man's pursuit of a workers’ compensation claim did not allow him to avoid having his civil suit against a property owner be deemed abandoned.
Case: Goudeau v. Formosa Plastics Corp., No. 2025 CA 1330, 06/16/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Kenneth R. Goudeau filed suit against Formosa Plastics Corp., seeking damages for an alleged accident that occurred while he was performing welding services at Formosa's facility in Baton Rouge.
In July 2025, Formosa filed a motion for dismissal on the grounds of abandonment. Formosa ass
The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a worker was not entitled to additional temporary total disability benefits or to expand the scope of her claim, but she should not have been denied a cold compression therapy unit and shoulder wrap for her compensable injury.
Case: Gee v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 25-728, 06/26/2026, published.
Facts: Katie Gee worked for ACNR Resources Inc. She went to the hospital on Jan. 26, 2024, and reported that a rock about the size of a football had fallen on her back while she was at work.
A computed tomography scan of the chest revealed a hematoma over th
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his fall from a ladder.
Case: Gomez v. Brookfield Properties One WFC Co. LLC, No. 151809/24, 595462/25, 06/23/2026, published.
Facts: Jimmy Mejia Gomez fell from an 8-foot A-frame ladder while installing drywall.
According to Gomez, the ladder moved from side to side under him and caused him to fall.
Procedural history: Gomez filed suit against Brookfield Properties One WFC Co. LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 240(1).
Section 240(1) imposes absolut
A Tennessee workers' compensation judge did not violate a Walgreens Co. worker’s due process rights by delaying an expedited benefits hearing after the worker said her medical problems left her unable to participate in mediation or court proceedings, an appeals board ruled Thursday.
As documented in No. 2026-80-0091, the worker was robbed at gunpoint while working for Walgreens on June 2, 2025, when an armed intruder forced her to empty an office safe. The record did not indicate she was physically assaulted. Two days later, the worker reported a mental injury, and Walgreens au
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Monday held that the insurance commissioner can reject rates proposed by the state's designated ratemaking agency but must explain any deviation he approves.
The commissioner nearly doubled the size of a recommended rate cut in 2024 and, in 2025, rejected a proposed increase and held rates unchanged.
Although the commissioner properly exercised his authority to disapprove the proposed rates, he failed to explain the basis for his decision to order a larger decrease than recommended, the high court said in Workers' Compensation Rating a
The Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the denial of a worker’s claim for benefits for the pancreatitis he allegedly developed as a result of the medication he took to treat a compensable injury.
Case: McDonald v. State ex rel. Department of Workforce Services, No. S-25-0228, 06/30/2026, published.
Facts: Sam McDonald suffered an injury to his head in 2014 while working as a mechanic. The Workers’ Compensation Division deemed the injury compensable.
McDonald’s injury caused him to suffer debilitating migraines, for which he sought treatment from Dr. George Zinkhan.
Zinkhan note
