Workers' Compensation

Fire at West Virginia Gas Well Injured Workers

Published on: February 27, 2013 | O'Connor Law

A West Virginia company has been cited for serious safety violations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after a gas well fire in August 2012 injured three workers.

The director of OSHA’s Charleston Area Office, Prentice Cline, is quoted as saying, “The hazardous nature of oil and gas drilling operations requires employers to find and fix the hazards. In this case, ensuring the use of proper personal protective equipment, such as flame-resistant clothing, could have helped in protecting the workers.”

At the time of the incident, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported that the men were about 400 feet down when an event sparked methane gas that ignited into a flash fire. Two men were taken to a Pittsburgh area hospital. The third man was taken to a hospital in Clarksburg.

The serious safety violations found at the site include failing to ensure the use of flame-retardant clothing from flash fires and burns and to ensure workers were not exposed to fire and gas explosions from uncontrolled gas flow at the well bore. A serious violation is defined by OSHA as occurring when there is substantial probability that death or serious injury could result from a hazard which the employer knew or should have known.

Tobyhanna Army Depot Could Be Impacted by Automatic Spending Reductions

Published on: February 24, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

Unemployment Compensation Limited for Seasonal Workers by Act 60

Published on: February 20, 2013 | O'Connor Law

On Jan. 1, the Unemployment Compensation Solvency legislation (Act 60) went into effect in Pennsylvania, limiting unemployment compensation benefits for seasonal workers. This means that workers who made 50.5 percent of their annual income or more in one quarter are no longer eligible for benefits. Previously, the limit was 63 percent.

An article on the RepublicanHerald.com notes that the maximum weekly benefit of $573 will be frozen until 2019. According to the governor, the change should affect less than 10 percent of the unemployed, but will save the state $276 million annually. The legislation is intended to help reduce the state’s $4 billion debt borrowed from federal unemployment benefits.

Unfortunately for Schuylkill County, we have a lot of seasonal workers who are employed by local golf courses, amusement parks, and ski resorts. There are also a lot of construction workers in the county. In the article, Rep. Neal Goodman is quoted as saying, “This is not the fault of employer or the employees. Gov. Corbett is trying to eliminate as many people from unemployment as possible. The truth of the matter is that these are some of the hardest workers you will find. They are seasonal workers but they work a lot of hours.”

Increasing the Minimum Wage

Published on: February 18, 2013 | O'Connor Law

In last week’s State of the Union address, President Obama said that he wanted to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in an effort to help working Americans out of poverty. An article on CNNMoney.com explains that this increase would make a full-time job that pays $9 an hour work out to $18,000 a year. Although this increase would certainly help working Americans, the poverty line for a four-person household is about $23,300 per year.

What could help families more would be the president’s recommendation to tie minimum wage to inflation, which according to the article, could prevent its value from being eroded over time. Advocates also say that helping people find higher paying jobs is also important.

Temp Worker Who Was Not Properly Trained Killed on First Day of Job in Florida

Published on: February 14, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

Pennsylvania Paint Company Cited by OSHA for Over $400,000 in Fines

Published on: February 11, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Comp Fund Could Be Reduced

Published on: February 8, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

O’Connor Law Support the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign

Published on: February 7, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

Be Careful What You Post on Social Media When You Have a WC or FMLA Claim

Published on: February 6, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.

Schuylkill County’s Jobless Rate Rises Slightly

Published on: February 4, 2013 | O'Connor Law

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.