From Bob's Cluttered Desk

It would seem when the Florida Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis say that an employee’s vaccination status is nobody’s business, they mean it. A physician and top official of the Florida Department of Health has been placed on administrative leave after he criticized the agency’s staff over their low Covid vaccination rate. The epidemiologist is said to…

  It is not a question we ever anticipated asking, but, like a bad penny, the topic of CompBob! seems to routinely pop up from time to time. We finally decided that we should put it to a public vote, settling the issue once and for all. Should CompBob! be returned to our website? But first,…

In 2018 Washington State passed HB 1723, which provides a rebuttable presumption that any present, past, or future worker at the Hanford Nuclear site who suffers “one of hundreds of covered illnesses,” may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. They do not need to show that the worksite was the reason for their illness. It…

Legislation being hailed for allowing faster workers’ compensation claims settlements was signed into law last week by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. It changes the requirements regarding the signing of legal paperwork for those workers eligible for a C&R – a Compromise and Release settlement. Currently, workers eligible for a C&R must have two witnesses see them sign…

Every once in a while a story crosses the Cluttered Desk that eventually forces me to apologize to someone somewhere for their offended sensitivities. This particular tale, however, is prompting me to apologize in advance to anyone whose feathers may be ruffled by the content contained herein. Remember, I am simply the messenger; granted a…

Bill Howley, general manager of TEN 3, a restaurant at the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, NM, said a recent experience he and his employees went through had its positive points. On December 31st he and 18 of his employees were “rushed out of the restaurant around 8:45 p.m. due to increasingly bad weather.”…

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon established a national commission to review the state of workers’ compensation programs across the nation. The commission, chaired by Professor John F. Burton, Jr., delivered their “Report Of The National Commission Of State Workmen’s Compensation Laws” to the President and Congress on July 31, 1972. It made 84 recommendations for…

A story out of south Florida that went viral this week highlights just about everything that can go wrong today in our hyper-connected society. It is a story of inconsistent policy and major overreaction, as well as just plain stupidity. And it all centers around a man who wore underwear as a face mask on a recent…

As part of a Christmas holiday ritual, my wife and I watched a couple of well-known classic movies on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Those movies were the perennial holiday favorites, “A Christmas Story” and “Home Alone”. I am still trying to figure out how to get that holiday feel-good romp “Die Hard” into the…

As a virtual paragon of fitness and health, I am at times encumbered by the knowledge that many of the people in my life, both near and distant, are not blessed with the excellent physical stature and well-being that I have managed to attain. Since all within the workers’ compensation industry could benefit from positive…