The Ohio legislature has been debating for months about providing workers compensation benefits for first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. But the issue finally seemed resolved early in June, when the State House of Representatives passed a budget allowing first responders affected by PTSD to receive medical care and wage replacement under workers […]
Every year in the United States, millions of employees are injured on the job. Many of these workers sustain minor injuries that require little medical attention and no time off from work. But a significant number — about 30 percent — are forced to take time off due to injuries or illnesses sustained on the […]
The U.S. government has lost a bid to dismantle a Washington state law that offers “presumptive” workers compensation benefits to injured workers at the now-defunct Hanford nuclear plant. The law was passed in 2018 after a two-year investigation by Seattle’s King 5 News revealed that workers at the site were routinely denied workers compensation benefits […]
With the U.S. heading into another hurricane season, the Midwest digging out from a series of devastating storms, and record heat and potential wildfires blanketing the West Coast, worker’s compensation insurers are ramping up efforts to ensure that beneficiaries continue to receive care and financial compensation when disaster strikes. Following the lead of Boston-based Liberty […]
The Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation has ordered the removal of OxyContin and its generic equivalents from it’s workers compensation formulary beginning June 1, 2019. Citing the high potential for “abuse, misuse, addiction and dependence,” the BWC will no longer authorize new prescritpions for the drug, and will require workers who are currently taking it […]
The U.S. population is aging, and so is the American workforce. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every five American workers today is currently over the age of 55. By 2020, that number will be closer to one in four. Further, while the overall rate of on-the-job injuries […]
In virtually every state in the U.S., workers compensation laws protect employees, providing them with paid medical care if they are injured on the job and replacement wages if they are unable to work. But in today’s growing gig economy, the rights of so-called gig workers, including the right to workers comp, are increasingly unclear. […]
It’s mid-May, and young people all over the country are starting to flock to various workplaces looking for summer jobs. Many have already secured employment, while others are still searching for the perfect gig. But since young people are typically more concerned about making money than they are about whether a workplace is safe, many […]
Healthcare workers, particularly nurses and nursing assistants, face an inordinate number of safety hazards at work. Chemical exposures, infectious diseases, needle sticks and physical injuries from lifting and turning patients are just a few of the ways in which healthcare workers are injured on the job. What’s more, in recent years, injuries due to physical […]
If you are the owner or operator of a nonprofit, your organization probably relies heavily on unpaid volunteers. According to the Corporation for National Community Service, about 25 percent of Americans volunteer an average of 33 hours of their time each year, which amounts to about 8 billion hours of service annually. That’s the equivalent […]
