Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, president and CEO of FesslerUSA, Walter Meck, announced last week that the garment company would be closing its doors at the end of this week. The company made it’s home here in Schuylkill County for 112 years.

Fessler had employed 130 people including office staff, sales employees, knitters, sewers and operators, and made underwear, tees, and tops. But recently it has been working with a skeleton crew as workers were laid off or found other jobs.

The company is being liquidated and all of its machinery will be dismantled and sold. All equipment is expected to be gone from the facility by January 2013, with most of it going overseas.

A new study released this week by NCCI Holdings Inc. shows that an aging workforce has less of a negative impact on workers’ comp claim than previously thought.

According to an article on BusinessInsurance.com, the NCCI report found that workers across different ages share “remarkably similar” types of work injuries. This is in contrast to a report last year by the same company, that found workers over 35 years of age generated higher-than-average claims compared to workers aged 15 to 34.

The report gave the example of “sprain of neck.” Claims of this injury are “virtually identical” for younger and older workers. Also, the report said that high severity diagnoses that tend to be more common in older workers are becoming more common in younger workers.

With an Amazon fulfillment center in Hazleton, PA, we were happy to read the news on CNN.com that they plan to hire 50,000 seasonal workers across the U.S.

With the holiday season approaching, the online retailer announced its seasonal hiring plan. The company currently employs 20,000 people in 40 fulfillment centers across the county. In the article, Amazon said it expects thousands of the seasonal employees to stay on full time after the holidays.

There are no details on the types of positions that will become available, but typical tasks include pulling times from warehouse shelves, packing boxes for shipment, and storing incoming merchandise.

Pennsylvania has become the center of attention when it comes to drilling for natural gas. But some of that attention has turned negative as two federal lawsuits and a state investigation have shed light on possible pay abuses at companies tapping the Marcellus shale.

According to an article on Equities.com, two companies are being accused of failing to pay employees for all the hours they work as well as misclassifying employees to avoid paying overtime, workers’ compensation, and unemployment services. One company provides security services at the well site and the other company provides fracking services.

One class action lawsuit that is being proposed claims that operators aren’t paid for all the hours they work, that accurate time sheets aren’t kept, and that time-and-a-half isn’t paid when an employee works overtime, although it is required by law. The class action suit is on behalf of current and former employees.

As the number of cases of a rare, noncontagious form of meningitis grow, some facilities that treat workers compensation claimants are identified as having received tainted medications.

An article on BusinessInsurance.com has reported that some of these facilities are on a list provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because they received methylprednisolon acetate from New England Compounding Center in Framingham, MA. There is a link between the injectable steroid medication that the company produces and the recent meningitis outbreak. The CDC says that there is still not enough evidence to determine the original source of the outbreak. New England Compounding has recalled products compounded and distributed from its facility.

A list of the facilities that received lots of the recalled medication is available on the CDC website.

Attorneys and staff of O’Connor Law helped to celebrate with residents of Berks County during the 9th Annual Latin Festival held at the First Energy Stadium in Reading, held on Sat., Sept. 29.

The law firm’s booth, located next to the stage, provided a perfect view of the event while handing out free t-shirts, pens, and other giveaways to festival attendees.

Ana Cruz was the big winner of the day, leaving with a 32″ LCD high definition TV compliments of O’Connor Law. Jaime Diaz won a backpack filled with school supplies. Another lucky attendee won an O’Connor Law umbrella.

In July, an Alcoa worker was killed at a plant in Riverdale, Iowa, while operating a piece of equipment. According to an article on KWQC.com, the company now faces fines of over $38,000 as a result of serious violations found to be in connection with the accident.

OSHA investigated the accident and issued six serious safety violations. The violations included failing to prevent the movement of equipment, failure to inspect equipment and provide training.

A spokesman for the company said Alcoa will address the issues and will take correction action.

This week, the RepublicanHerald.com reported that local garment company FesslerUSA in Orwigsburg would soon be making critical decisions about its future.

According to the article, rumors have been circulating that the company would be closing. A recent employee meeting included discussions of the troubles facing the company.

“We faced enormous challenges since the global economic crisis began over four years ago. During the past several months, as those challenges increased dramatically, we aggressively pursued new customers and other options, including investors, downsizing and the winding down of operations,” said President/CEO Walter Meck.

The company has been providing design support services and custom production services to the private label fashion knitwear industry for over 112 years.

Continue reading

According to an article on Money.CNN.com, the manufacturing industry has good news to report: the number of job openings for skilled factory workers has gone up 38% since 2005.

The numbers come from the Conference Board, that measures labor demand across industries. The biggest increase in openings for skilled workers has been 152% and has occurred in the last three years or so.

The Conference Board said that the states with the highest demand for skilled workers are Ohio, Michigan, Texas, California, Illinois, and Indiana. Employers range from small parts makers that contract with large manufacturers to mid-size and large assemblers in the auto, aerospace, and industrial metals industries.