CA - DWC Audit Penalties Reach $1M for 2024
04/29/2026 | 0
The California Division of Workers' Compensation issued administrative penalties totaling a little more than $1 million following 36 random and four targeted audits in 2024 that found $442,661 in unpaid compensation.
The division, in its latest Profile Audit Review report, said about 10% of the 2,698 claims reviewed in 2024 had unpaid indemnity benefits. The division reports $201,696 in unpaid temporary disability or salary continuation benefits and $195,770 in unpaid permanent disability. An additional $44,158 in self-imposed increases for late payments was outstanding, as was $1,03...
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A federal appellate court denied review of a coal mine operator’s challenge to a worker’s award of black lung benefits.
Case: Wolf Run Mining Co. v. OWCP, No. 24-2262, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Harold Baisden spent more than 27 years in coal mine employment. He filed a claim for compensation under the Black Lung Benefits Act, and Wolf Run Mining Co. was determined to be the potentially liable employer.
Wolf Run challenged the claim, asserting that Baisden did not suffer from any form of pneumoconiosis. It presented the testimony of Dr. Thomas Jarboe and Dr. Mohammed Ranavaya...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a decision of the Board of Review finding that a worker was entitled to a neuromuscular electrical stimulator for her back injury.
Case: Thomas Health System Inc. v. Spence, No. 25-ICA-396, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Tina Spence worked for the Thomas Health System Inc. She sought medical treatment in February 2016 for a back injury that occurred when a patient grabbed her around the neck and pulled her down. The clinical impression was an acute lumbar strain.
A claims administrator for the health system’s insurance car...
A New York appellate court ruled that the defendants in a Labor Law action should have been granted summary judgment dismissing part of the claims against them.
Case: Gonzalez v 60-74 Gansevoort Street LLC, No. 157520/17, 595067/18, 595292/21, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Luis Francisco Castro Gonzalez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project when a piece of wood broke off the roof and struck him.
Procedural history: Gonzalez filed suit against 60-74 Gansevoort Street LLC and MJM Associates Construction LLC, asserting claims for negligence and violations of the L...
One of the most overlooked and underutilized tools in workers’ compensation is also one of the simplest: a clear, accurate physical job description of the work the worker was doing at the time of the injury.
Early in my career, I encountered a case that perfectly illustrates why this matters. This true story has stayed with me because it demonstrates how easily a misunderstanding about a job can affect medical decisions and patient outcomes.
Jack walked into an occupational clinic with a low-back strain. He was 6 feet, 3 inches tall, all muscle, wearing dirty jeans and a clean but ...
A New York appellate court vacated a grant of summary judgment for the defendant on a Labor Law claim and granted summary judgment for the worker.
Case: Narvaez v. 12 West 31st Street Corp., No. 152206/21, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Wilson Narvaez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property owned by 12 West 31st Street Corp.
According to Narvaez, he was welding a handrail between the 10th and 11th floors on a fire escape when he slipped and fell down several freshly painted, wet steps.
Procedural history: Narvaez filed suit against the property...
NATL. - WCRI: Comp Claim Costs Rose 6% Annually From 2022 to 2025
Total workers' compensation claim costs increased by an average of 6% per year from 2022 to 2025 in the median study state, driven by rising medical payments, indemnity benefits and claim administration expenses, according to research released Tuesday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The findings, featured in 18 reports for all the study states, show costs had remained relatively flat through 2022 before climbing again over the past several years.
“The increase reflects sustained growth in the last few years across all major components of a claim, including medi...
Lawmakers might have overlooked the fact that workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for injuries arising from employment when they passed a law allowing teachers to sue school districts over school shootings, according to a report by the Colorado Sun.
Eric Sinclair, a dean at East High School in Denver who was shot and injured by a student in 2023, filed a lawsuit pursuant to the 2015 Claire Davis School Safety Act.
A judge in March dismissed the claim, citing exclusivity. The judge was reportedly not persuaded by the argument that the decision rendered the school shooting law me...
Whether a subcontractor hired to line a pit with concrete was responsible for assessing the safety of the excavation work performed by the hiring party is a question of fact that precludes summary judgment, a California appeals court ruled in an unpublished decision.
The owner of De Jong's Dover Dairy LLC excavated a pit and hired Supreme Construction Inc. to pour and install concrete walls. Supreme employee Luis Felipe Diaz Ornelas was injured when the trench walls collapsed while he was working inside the pit.
Ornelas sued the dairy.
He introduced the opinion of a civil and geotechnic...
A divided Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a worker could not continue to pursue a claim against the state Second Injury Fund after entering a compromise settlement with her employer that did not establish the employer’s liability for her injury.
Case: Kingsbury v. Second Injury Fund of Iowa, No. 25–0717, 04/24/2026, published.
Facts: Sarah Kingsbury worked as a pharmacy technician for Walmart. She suffered injuries at work in August 2021 when she tripped and fell over a box.
Procedural history: Kingsbury filed a workers’ compensation claim against Walmart based on injuries t...
A Florida appellate court ruled that exclusivity did not shield a general contractor from liability for a worker’s death resulting from a fall that occurred when he came to the project site in preparation to bid on a subcontract.
Case: Willis A. Smith Construction Inc. v. Keathley, No. 2D2025-1900, 04/24/2026, published.
Facts: Willis A. Smith Construction Inc. had a contract as a continuing service provider for the University of South Florida. WASC was tasked with restoring a structure on USF's Sarasota Campus known as the John C. Williams House.
WASC issued an open invitation to...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the expansion of a worker’s claim to include additional conditions and an award of temporary total disability benefits.
Case: Mastec Inc. v. Blackwell, No. 25-ICA-344 and No. 25-ICA-406, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: In August 2022, Brett Blackwell saw Dr. Robert Johnston with complaints of bilateral shoulder pain for more than two months, and sharp rib to chest pain. An X-ray revealed mild acromioclavicular degeneration.
In April 2024, Blackwell saw Johnston again. Johnston’s assessment included an anterior-to...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to partial summary judgment on his Labor Law claim, and his employer was entitled to summary judgment dismissing the third-party claims against it.
Case: Speechio v. Starbucks Corp., No. 161323/18, 04/02/2026, published.
Facts: Joseph Speechio worked for Eclipse Contracting Corp., a carpentry subcontractor for a construction project. Shawmut served as the general contractor.
Speechio allegedly suffered injuries while working on the project when he slipped on a piece of loose electrical wire as he walked around a pile of discarded w...
The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission announced a pair of arbitrator transfers taking effect May 1.
Arbitrators Linda Cantrell and Brad Gillespie will switch dockets, the commission announced. Cantrell will hear all matters previously set for hearing in May by Gillespie, while Gillespie will hear all matters previously set to be heard by Cantrell.
Cantrell will be assigned to Zone 1, covering Collinsville, Herrin and Mount Vernon. Gillespie will be assigned to Zone 2, covering Springfield, Quincy and Urbana.
All settlement contracts, motions and petitions submitted for these doc...
Members of the Arizona House of Representatives added five years of retroactive effect to a bill intended to close a loophole that carriers have allegedly used to deny cancer claims from first responders that are presumed to arise from employment under state law.
The House on Monday voted 53-4 to send an amended SB 1215 back to the Senate. The amended bill would apply retroactively to June 30, 2021.
SB 1215 would itemize the list of the eight specific types of cancer that are presumed to be compensable occupational diseases for peace officers, and the 23 cancers that are presumed to arise fr...
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict awarding benefits to a railroad dispatcher for her ankle injury that was largely apportioned to her own fault, and that denied the employer an offset to the short-term disability it had paid.
Chaylea Cramer worked as a dispatcher for Union Pacific Railroad Co. She twisted her left ankle at work in August 2017 while descending a flight of stairs leading toward a restroom.
Cramer cared for her ankle at home that night and wore a brace to work the next day. She then met with a superior who allegedly encouraged her not to report the incident....