From Bob's Cluttered Desk

There are a couple different schools of thought when it comes to the topic of learning how to swim. As a child, I learned to swim through formalized lessons at the Erlton Swim Club of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. There were weeks of lessons where multiple instructors guided shivering young children (it was early summer,…

Oh, what a difference a state line makes. In Florida, a work-at-home workers’ compensation claims professional who tripped over her dog while reaching for a cup of coffee could not receive workers’ compensation benefits. If she moved just a few miles north, over the Georgia border, it would now be a different story. Last week the State…

Editor’s Note: It has been an extraordinarily hectic few weeks here at WorkersCompensation.com, and Bob has found it difficult to maintain this blog while dealing with the COVID related demands on his business. In the interim, we have decided to offer a few past posts that are near and dear to his heart. He expects to…

Editor’s Note: It has been an extraordinarily hectic few weeks here at WorkersCompensation.com, and Bob has found it difficult to maintain this blog while dealing with the COVID related demands on his business. In the interim, we have decided to offer a few past posts that are near and dear to his heart. He expects…

Are you an “essential worker?” Am I? Does the contribution you make to the economy and society in general through the course of your work make any difference? Are we essential, or not? Doesn’t every position hold some value to the greater good?  In the era of COVID-19, there has been a great deal of…

Civil discourse in the workers’ compensation industry can at times be a challenge. The adversarial and sometimes acrimonious nature of the work we do doesn’t always bring the best out of people. Still, many people in the industry toil daily to provide necessary services while keeping communications professional and respectful. Understanding and respecting those with…

The state of Florida is gradually reopening after weeks of self-isolation and stay at home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, I will return to my office today, following two months of commandeering the family room and generally annoying my wife. The goal here, of course, is to return to some sense…

It almost feels like the second in a series, what with this article’s title being so similar to the last one posted in this blog. In that article, we asked, “We Don’t Pay for Viruses, Do We?” (Short answer: Now we do). Today, however, we discuss a completely unrelated topic. Wherein a virus can represent…

As COVID-19 continues to challenge the nation, the workers’ compensation industry is busy grappling with its own questions regarding the impact and responsibilities surround the virus. Compensability for employees who claim they contracted the illness on the job remains a very big question. We have already seen a push in numerous states to extend presumptive…

Note from Bob: This article first appeared on our site July 12, 2010, before the advent of this blog. It is a prediction of what the workplace would look like in the year 2020. Since it was written 10 years ago, I wanted to go back and see how my prognostications fared. While I clearly…