Employer Liable for Penalties for Late Payment of PPI Benefits

The Alaska Supreme Court last week ruled that an employer that requests multiple medical specialists to provide permanent impairment ratings for an injured employee cannot put off its payment of benefits until every expert has weighed in. Thus, the court said that Unisea Inc. was properly held liable for penalties for failing to make timely payments of compensation to Sofia Morales de Lopez. Morales had worked for Unisea as a fish sorter. In June 2013, she fell about 15 feet from a platform at Unisea’s Dutch Harbor processing plant, on to a concrete floor. She suffered severe inju...