From Bob's Cluttered Desk

I read today about an award issued in March by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission granting benefits to a state worker for a condition associated with “repetitive walking”, and it got me to thinking. The claim, from an employee of the Menard Correctional Center, a veritable claim factory in its own right, was awarded benefits…

Recently the managers of the Workers' Compensation Roundtable on LinkedIn asked the membership what kind of subgroups they would like to see added the group. We received excellent suggestions, and are pleased to announce that the first new subgroup from this discussion is now available. The Return to Work Roundtable is now up and running…

There are no shortages of conferences for workers' comp, and Lord knows I've been to a few. However, this week I am attending my first event designed for the self insured segment of our industry, the Workers' Compensation Executive Forum being put on by the Self Insured Institute of America. It is being held in…

I swore to myself that I had written enough this week. I have a real job, with real fake responsibilities. I was done with my blog – really. But then an item crosses my cluttered desk that is, for lack of a better phrase, right up my alley, and to sit on this over the…

This is just a quick test, to see if you have been paying attention. I am going to quickly review three separate workers' comp claims. Your job is to tell which received benefits, and which ones, if any, were denied: A woman in Australia, traveling on business, meets up with a male friend and takes…

This is quite possibly the first ever, multi-media, interactive thought induction blog post – not just for the industry, but anywhere. In order for you to experience my thoughts as I describe them below, we have included these really cute red buttons throughout the article. Click on this one to make sure your system is…

Last week I wrote an article on breaking the cycle of entitlement, and helping injured workers understand that healing and returning to work, whenever possible, was the best thing for their interests. The response from industry professionals was extremely positive, including supportive comments on LinkedIn, nice emails from associates, and an invitation to Keynote at…

How do we get better? It is a question that can and should be asked at many levels in workers' comp. How do we efficiently manage our workload? How do we improve care for the injured? And perhaps most importantly, the injured worker should be asking, “How do I get better?” Part of our job…

I just completed a CompTalk Radio interview with Sidney Degan, a New Orleans attorney involved with putting together the June seminar of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN). The interview should be published tomorrow on WorkersCompensation.com. The seminar is being held June 6 and 7 in New Orleans. While I have always been impressed…

This is a tale of a work related incident gone awry. It may be illegal work, but an on the job injury is an on the job injury. Who am I to judge? I only had to read the following opening line and my mind was off and running: “The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a…