Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

An article in the RepublicanHerald this week reported that Tobyhanna Army Depot could have its budget cut by more than one-third, or more than $300 million in cuts, if automatic spending reductions happen in March. It is part of $500 billion to be cut from defense spending over the next 10 years.

But in the article, Army spokesman Dove Schwartz said that the cuts to Tobyhanna are more imminent, “That will happen by the end of the fiscal year. That’s not nine or 10 years down the road.”

Tobyhanna is one of the area’s largest employers with about 5,400 workers living in bother Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. It’s the military’s primary facility for repair and maintenance of communications and electronics equipment. The depot’s annual operating budget is about $905 million, so the automatic cut would mean about a 34 percent reduction in funding. It could mean a loss of 1,570 jobs.

This latest citation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is frightening and sad at the same time. They have cited a Jacksonville, FL company with 12 safety violations after a temporary worker was killed his first day on the job, apparently because he was not trained properly.

The 21-year-old worker was crushed to death by a machine on his first day on the job. He was cleaning the machine when another employee restarted the machine. It was discovered that the company neglected to train temporary employees about locks and tags to prevent accidental startups of machines.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels is quoted as saying, “Employers are responsible for ensuring the safe conditions of all their employees, including those who are temporary.”

The company has been issued two willful citations for failing to develop, document and utilize lockout/tagout procedures and for failing to train employees on lockout/tagout procedures. The company has also received nine serious violations.

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A Pennsylvania painting company will receive $459,844 in fines resulting from violations that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says exposed workers to lead and other safety hazards.

Panthera Painting Inc., in Canonsburg, was cited for 38 alleged violations at work sites in Slatington, Harrisburg, and Slatedale. Fourteen of the citations are categorized as willful and 11 are repeat violations. The exposure is said to have happened during abrasive blasting and repainting projects.

Referring to the violations, MaryAnn Garrahan, OSHA regional administrator in Philadelphia, said, “The employer’s refusal to correct the hazards, along with its history of failing to correct hazards, demonstrates a clear resistance to worker safety and health and leaves workers vulnerable to potential illnesses and injuries from overexposure to lead and other hazards.”

Some of the willful violations include failing to properly protect workers from exposure to lead and providing fall protection. Some of the repeat violations include exposing employees to lead above the permissible exposure level, lack of warning signs posted in lead work areas, providing medical evaluations and fit tests for respirator users, providing blood tests every two months for employees exposed to lead, and failing to certify injury and illness logs and monitor data in the lead compliance programs.

As a result of the willful and repeat violations, Panthera has been placed on OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The company has been inspected by OSHA five times in the last five years with four of the inspections resulting in serious citations.

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An article on BusinessInsurance.com reported that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is looking to reduce the state’s Workmen’s Compensation Administration Fund by $6.5 million in the 2013-2014 budget year, according to a proposed budget that was posted online.

It’s not clear how this reduction will affect workers’ comp administration here in Pennsylvania. But according to a press release from the governor’s office, the plan is to “(streamline) the workers’ compensation system by improving care for injured workers and reducing medical costs for employers.”

The budget was presented to the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Tuesday of this week. We’ll continue to monitor this situation to see how it could affect our clients.

On Fri., Feb. 1, the attorneys and staff of O’Connor Law donned red sweaters, shirts, and scarves in honor of National Wear Red Day to raise awareness of heart disease, the leading killer of women.

National Wear Red Day was started 10 years ago by the American Heart Association (AHA), as part of its annual Go Red for Women campaign. The AHA offers some startling statistics about women and heart disease:

• One woman dies from heart disease each minute.

We’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating after a recent article we read: Be very careful what you post on social media sites, like Facebook, when you have a workers’ comp claim. In the case we are about to discuss, an employee’s claim for family medical leave Act (FMLA) was denied due to pictures she posted to her Facebook account.

An employee went to visit her doctor about back pain she was experiencing that stemmed from a previous car accident and two prior surgeries. She was not able to work the next day, so she gave her employer a work release form from her doctor, indicating that she was totally incapacitated.

She returned to work a few days later, but her doctor submitted a FMLA certification which stated that the employee had intermittent flare-ups of back pain that, when active, made it impossible for her to work. He amended the note and said she would be disabled for about 6 weeks.

During the time that she was disabled and not working, she attended a local festival for about eight hours. A friend took over 100 pictures, some of which appeared to show the employee either dancing or standing. During the weekend of the festival, she left voicemail messages for her work saying that she could not come to work due to the pain she was experiencing. Some of her coworkers saw her Facebook pictures and reported them to her supervisor. She was called in to discuss the situation and told her supervisor that no one told her this was prohibited. She also said she was in pain while at the festival. But she could not reconcile her activities at the festival with the fact that she was in too much pain to come to work.

The company terminated the employee, stating concerns about FMLA fraud. She sued for alleged retaliation under FMLA. However, the court noted that the company properly considered workplace fraud to be a serious issue and rejected her claim for retaliation.

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According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, Schuylkill County’s jobless rate rose by four-tenths of a percentage point to 9.7 percent for the month of December.

The county’s rate is still higher than Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 7.9 percent. The national rate stayed the same at 7.8 percent.

The article noted that total nonfarm jobs in the county increased by 300 in December to 56,000. Jobs were up 1,500 or 2.9 percent over the year. Little change was seen in industry jobs over the month.

This week, State Treasurer Rob McCord announced that new State Debit Cards will be issued to current users that can be used at more ATMs, have new options, and less fees.

According to an article on WHPTV.com, the new debit card program will save Pennsylvanians over $5 million in fees. The ATM network has been expanded to included 3200 machines that card holders can use for free. Customer service will be provided and fees will drop drastically.

Over 150,000 Pennsylvanians are active card holders and currently receive workers’ comp and unemployment benefits through these cards.