Quote of the day
"This is just totally contrary to everyone's understanding of how the workers' compensation structure works."
Scott Gallant, legislative director for the Oregon Medical Association, about an emergency rule that changes doctor payouts with no oversight
Oregon: Emergency Rule ‘Shrouded in Secrecy’
In Oregon, to engineer a major change in how doctors are paid to treat injured workers, state officials acted under pressure from a private insurer, with haste, little public comment and no official legal guidance. The emergency temporary change occurred because a financially troubled national health care company sent word through the insurer that without the change, the company would pull its business out of Oregon. By Anne Saker, Oregonian
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New York Law Smoothes Road for Livery Drivers
New York State governor David Paterson signs the Workers’ Compensation Act for taxi drivers, a new law intended to ” reform a system that has been bogged down by bureaucracy for too long,” according to the governor. Of the area’s 40,000 livery taxi drivers, around 25,000 are of Dominican nationality.
Go to the full story in Dominican Today
Go to the full story by AP via New York Daily News
Commentary: ‘Legal Scam’ Involves Illegal Workers
There are two kinds of illegal immigrants in Houston and across America: those who pay less than their fair share of taxes and those who pay more. Hiring of illegal immigrants as “independent contractors,” and not as employees, is rampant in the home construction industry. By Rick Casey, Houston Chronicle
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Commentary: Utah’s Insurance Loophole Allows Exploitation
The Utah Labor Commission held an emergency meeting recently for labor attorneys, without giving advance public notice, to comply with a law passed this year that was sponsored by a state representative and construction company owner. The law basically allows the Utah Workers Compensation Fund, or any other workers’ comp insurer, to cancel disability payments to someone hurt on the job if it is shown that person has committed a crime, including being in the country illegally. By Paul Rolly, Salt Lake Tribune
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City, Workers’ Comp Foot Bill for Injured Jackson Police
The city of Jackson, Miss., will pay the hospital expenses for a 37-year-old police officer who was shot several times following a pursuit of suspects in an armed robbery, and when the money from the city’s self-insured pool dries up, the state’s workers’ compensation plan will pick up the costs. By Kathleen Baydala, Clarion-Ledger [with photos] Go to the Full Story…
Opinion: Private WSI Not the Way
Lloyd Omdahl, a former North Dakota lieutenant governor and retired University of North Dakota political science teacher, writes that with public accountability lacking, it is time to move control of Workforce Safety and Insurance out of private hands and back into state government. By Lloyd Omdahl, Fargo Forum [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…
South Carolina Consumer Agency Lists Victories
The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs says that, during the recently ended 2007-08 fiscal year, it recovered almost $2.3 million for consumers and saved more than $132 million for state businesses. Part of that is due to its success in knocking down a NCCI recommendation to boost rates 24 percent this year, to 9.8 percent. By Michael Buettner, Charleston Post & Courier
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