From Bob's Cluttered Desk

Legislative bills in Montana and Idaho that will grant certain benefits and presumptions for first responders appear to be headed to a successful result, bringing those states in line with many others who have recently followed the same path. The Montana proposal would provide automatic presumptions for certain medical diseases and illnesses, while the Idaho effort will establish psychiatric…

It is one of the potential flaws in the structure of a state workers’ compensation fund; the agency, or quasi-independent company, responsibly establishes reserves to protect their customers and workers from future and unknown calamities. Then greedy, grubby, ignorant, sticky fingered politicians drool over those funds and try for an unmitigated cash grab, believing they…

Fraud is fraud, and while today’s tip is not derived directly from a workers’ comp fraud case, its origins are based in alleged employment fraud at a state workers’ compensation agency. Two employees of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation are facing felony charges for allegedly falsifying records in order to use sick time. The case of…

The American Bar Association 2019 Workers’ Compensation Midwinter Seminar and Conference is scheduled for March 14 thru 16, at the beautiful and historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida. As usual this law focused event offers something for everyone. Co-sponsored by the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law and the Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section,…

The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference is breaking over 30 years of tradition this year. Held annually in Boston every year since WCRI was founded, they have broken out of the northeast winter doldrums and are headed for sunny Phoenix, AZ. The conference will be held February 28 and March…

We spend a great deal of time talking about ways that the workers’ compensation system could be improved. Much of that conversation centers around how adjusters and claims professionals could do their job better; how they could change their methods to get better results. Rarely, if ever, in these conversations have we really discussed the…

With the advent of social media, we find ourselves dealing with an ever-increasing quantity of suspicious and annoying spammers and scammers. People like Jeff Bezos and others are clogging our social media accounts asking to be our friends, contacts, followers or connections. What is up with all that? We must first state unequivocally that the…

Colorado workers’ compensation insurer Pinnacol Assurance issued a news release last week urging employers to reconsider their employee’s use of electronic scooters. It seems that use of these now ubiquitous urban nuisances not only make your employees look damned ridiculous, they can also present a workers’ compensation risk for your company.   Jim McMillen, Pinnacol’s director of…

You know, there are some mornings where I get up, brew the coffee, grab my laptop and wander in to my home office with every intent of pecking out a blog post without a clue on what the topic of the day will be. I usually arise at 5:30AM for this purpose. Doing so affords…

A seven-year employee of a McDonald’s restaurant in Australia has won a court case granting her rights to workers’ compensation benefits, after the court deemed a smoke break taken before her shift began was part of the time she was required to be onsite. She had arrived ten minutes early to “help with the shift transition,” and…