workers' compensation appeals

April 1, 2016

Massachusetts Courts Rule on Issues involving Multiple Workers’ Compensation Carriers

Every employer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is required have workers’ compensation insurance or be able prove there are enough funds to qualify as a self-bonded entity with an injury fund. This is usually only the case for state and municipal agencies and does not come up much in the case of private employers.

However, some companies choose to have more than one account instead of paying for high limits on a single policy. These employers have tried to pick and choose which carrier should be liable in the event a worker is injured, but the insurance companies did not like pick and choose approach to dealing with workers’ compensation claims. Continue reading

March 25, 2016

Restaurant Worker Injured in Knife Attack

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from CBS, a restaurant worker was on the job in New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood when he was slashed with a knife. Authorities report a homeless man entered the restaurant with a knife and attacked. The assailant fled before police arrived.

The police do not yet know why the attack occurred and whether it actually occurred in front of restaurant or inside. While they are not clear on the exact motive, there is always a question as to the mental state of the city’s many homeless individuals, since many of them suffer from serious mental health conditions, including schizophrenia with paranoid delusions. This is one of the many reasons they are living on the streets, according to many researchers looking at homelessness in areas like Boston and across the country. Continue reading

March 21, 2016

DiCarlo v. Suffolk Construction Company Inc v. Angelini Plastering, Inc.: Mass Workers’ Comp

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

DiCarlo v. Suffolk Constr. Co., Inc. v. Angelini Plastering, Inc., is a case that resulted in a somewhat significant change to workers’ compensation law in Massachusetts. In a typical case, workers’ compensation is an exclusive remedy. This means that a worker who is injured or becomes sick due to a job-related injury or illness can file a workers’ compensation claim with his or her employer but cannot file a lawsuit against his or her employer.

However, the worker is not required to prove negligence or intentional conduct committed by the employer in order to collect workers’ compensation benefits. The reason is because the workers’ compensation system in Boston in a no-fault system. This no-fault system benefits the worker by theoretically making it easier to collect benefits, because all a worker has to establish is that he or she was injured or became ill, that injury or illness was work-related, and they are an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. Continue reading

March 18, 2016

Folsom Prison Workers Injured on the Job

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Most people have heard of Folsom, formally known as the California State Prison in Folsom, due the fact that it was featured in a famous song by Johnny Cash. However, it is a real prison, and it is still in operation.

According to a recent news feature from Fox News, four employees of the prison were injured in what is alleged to have been an attack by one or more inmates. Authorities have said a 32-year-old inmate was supposed to be receiving his medication when he allegedly attacked two psychiatric technicians. Continue reading

February 16, 2016

Five Workers Hospitalized After Fire at Quincy Water Treatment Plant

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A fire at a sewage treatment facility in Quincy resulted in five workers being hospitalized for smoke inhalation. According to a recent news article from ABC News Boston, the fire started deep underground in a system designed to reduce the odor of air being released into the local community.

While authorities are not sure of the exact cause of the fire, one worker believed it may have involved an electrical issue with a fan they turned on in part of the odor control system known as an air scrubber. Continue reading

February 10, 2016

Big Party for the Workers’ Compensation Industry Highlights Systemic Problems

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

You have probably heard about other large industries with nicknames like Big Oil and the Military Industrial Complex. According to a recent news feature from the Pacific Standard, the lesser-known workers’ compensation industrial complex is a real thing.

Recently, those in industry held a convention formally known as the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference and Expo. However, this was no simple affair. It featured a live alligator, all kinds of performers, including “scantily clad acrobats,” and had attendees arriving in stretch limos. There were dance lights, after-hour parties, and everything one would come to expect from a party hosted by a major casino. Continue reading

February 10, 2016

Woman Sues for Discrimination Related to Workers’ Compensation Claim

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from the West Virginia Record, a woman is suing her employer for allegedly discriminating against her for filing a workers’ compensation claim. This claimant is a certified nursing assistant who was working in that capacity when she injured her lower back.

She injured her lower back when she was lifting a patient who had fallen to the floor. First, it should be noted that patient-lifting injuries are becoming increasingly common across the country, and healthcare centers should be taking proactive steps to curtail this problem. Continue reading

December 15, 2015

Municipality of Anchorage v. Stenseth: Workers’ Compensation Benefits

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Municipality of Anchorage v. Stenseth, a case from the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska, involved claimant who had been injured at work “many years ago.” When claimant filed a request for workers’ compensation benefits, the parties eventually reached an agreement, and the parties agreed employee would waive any future benefits other than medical benefits and that employer would pay employee $37,000.

Claimant retired in 1996 but was still receiving medical benefits in connection with his chronic pain management. However, ten years later, he was charged with multiple felony criminal charges, including selling narcotics. Some of these were prescription painkillers and were somehow related the medicine he was getting as part of his medical benefits. He eventually pleaded guilty to some of charges prosecutors had filed against him, and he spent at least some time in jail. Continue reading