While the world seems to have changed a lot during the last six months, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation law has remained the same: The injured worker must show consistent, reasonable and written record of looking for work in order to be eligible to receive weekly wage loss benefits. In other words, unless an injured worker…
Continue reading
If the dress code violation involves safety equipment or mandatory protective gear, then the short answer can be “yes.” If a worker is struck in the head at a construction site, and they were not wearing their company issued hardhat, that claim could be denied by the Workers’ Compensation insurance company. If the case went…
Continue reading
Can a worker whose fingers or toes are amputated because he or she could not read a machine’s instructions get workers’ compensation benefits? In workers’ comp cases, employers or their insurance company can win on the defense of “willful violation of a safety rule” only if they show the employee intended to break a known…
Continue readingThe National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), which studies workers’ compensation and other benefits systems, last August reported that in 2012: workers’ compensation benefits rose by 1.3 percent to $61.9 billion employer costs rose by 6.9 percent to $83.2 billion. The uptick, NASI said, was due to increased employment. “This growth in workers’ compensation spending…
Continue reading
The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an insurance company-funded organization which, for years, has been reporting that doctors in the Maryland workers’ comp system were dispensing 40% of all workers’ comp prescriptions, and were capturing 55% of all dollars paid for these prescriptions. This, according to WCRI, was driving up costs in the workers’…
Continue reading