From Bob's Cluttered Desk

It’s been quite some time since we wrote about SAIF Corporation, Oregon’s quasi-public state-owned workers’ compensation insurance company. Long time readers will recall we dedicated an article or two (or fifty-six) on the John Plotkin affair. In 2014, Plotkin, a newly installed CEO whose new and open policies were not apparently appreciated by the old…

I did not create the word “malclassification.” It is a word used by the University of Wyoming Law Professor Michael Duff, during the recent ABA Mid-Winter Workers’ Compensation Conference in New Orleans. He was discussing the challenges of adequately providing worker protection in the gig economy, as well as other independent contractor scenarios. He discussed…

I moderated a panel at the American Bar Association Mid-Winter Conference in New Orleans this past week. Our topic was concerning delays in treatment of compensable claims, with a look at the causes and consequences regarding both expense and outcomes for the industry. The panelists were Florida Judge David Langham, Defense Attorney Mike Fish of…

There was a Hot Seat Webinar scheduled to take place yesterday. It didn’t happen. Except it did. It’s just no one saw it. At least not yet. Perhaps, as usual, I should start at the beginning. Our Hot Seat Webinar, Simple Concepts For the Complex Workers’ Compensation World, was scheduled to run at 1:00 PM…

While people have been fussing and fretting about the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its almost certain and inevitable destruction of life on this earth, a new study just released shows that automation in the workplace has already been killing us. Turns out we’ve been worrying about AI for nothing. By the time Artificial Intelligence is…

  Minnesota earlier this month passed legislation extending Covid workers’ compensation coverages for certain frontline workers in the state. Governor Tim Walz signed House File (H.F.) 1203, extending the presumption for workers who contract COVID-19 at work. The prior law that provided these presumptions expired on December 31, 2021. The law applies to first responders, emergency…

You know, you just can’t go to any old blog to find not one, but two completely useless stories crammed into a single relevant post. But thanks to the wizardry of the rubber mallet handily stored on the cluttered desk, that is what you find here today. Containing useless data from studies likely funded by…

Abbie Hudgens had an idea. The Administrator of the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation wanted to start a conversation with and within the workers’ compensation community, geared to the future and addressing the challenges faced by the industry. Her concept was a blog; a blog that would not just allow her and other authors to…

We have a discussion forum here on WorkersCompensation.com that, while open to anyone, is dominated by injured workers. Posting activity has slowed during the pandemic, but historically it has been a very active area for people to ask questions and learn about workers’ comp. In its current format, since 2007, the board has generated 15,915…

Somehow, over the years, my email address has wound up being listed on various press release distribution lists, with the result being that I get many emails every day announcing everything from company mergers to new tongue straightening toothpaste. It is almost as if the people who send these think I care. Silly people.  Some…