Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

The state attorney general’s public corruption unit arrested a supervisor in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation program and charged with bribery. His wife was also arrested and charged with conspiracy.

The man is an auditing supervisor and state employee with the State Workers’ Insurance Fund (SWIF), a state agency. The SWIF is a part of the Department of Labor and Industry and provides workers’ comp insurance to businesses in PA, particularly those employers with high-risk occupations that cannot obtain coverage through a private insuraer.

According to TheRepublic.com, the man promised PA business owners who were insured through the SWIF in Scranton that he could reduce their premiums if they provided him with kickbacks. Prosecutors documented 15 cases where refunds were issued without any supporting documentation.

Reuters.com recently posted an article focused on what employers need to do when an injured worker returns to his or her job. We thought it was important information to pass along to you, too.

Each state has different laws when it comes to workers’ compensation. However, there are 3 things that you should remember when returning to work.

1. If you receive equal or higher pay when you return to work after an injury, you may not be entitled to more workers’ comp benefits. But if you received a reduction in pay because of your injuries, you may still be able to receive benefits. But the benefits may be reduced.

2. There are different types of benefits that you can receive, including temporary partial benefits that are paid to temporarily disable employees; and temporary total benefits for those who are completely unable to return to work because of the injury. The amount of benefits you receive is often based upon a percentage of the employee’s wages.

3. In general, employers cannot retaliate against an injured employee who files for workers’ comp. It is wrong to discriminate against, harass, or fire an employee for filing a workers’ comp claim.

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According to a news release issued by the state’s Department of Labor and Industry, L&I is partnering with the U.S. Department of Treasury to reclaim the benefits collected by means of fraud by way of federal tax refunds.
The federal Treasury Offset Program allows Pennsylvania to intercept the tax refunds of people who have intentionally claimed unemployment compensation benefits to which they were not entitled.
L&I began notifying claimants whose refunds could be affected in November 2011. By early February, almost 9,400 people were notified and given contact information for the department’s Benefit payment Control Section should they have questions. As of March 8, L&I used TOP to reclaim $6.5 million from 2,391 income tax interceptions.

Site Selection Magazine, which specializes in corporate real estate and economic development, ranked Pennsylvania third in the nation with 453 new or expanded corporate facilities in 2011.

“This new national recognition verifies that we are moving in the right direction,” Governor Tom Corbett said in a recent news release.

The 2011 number is an increase of over 100 projects from 2010.

According to a February news release, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Exel Inc. Palmyra and SHS Staffing Solutions, Lemoyne for workplace safety and health violations.

Exel, owned by Hershey Co. has been hit with proposed penalties of $283,000 while SHS, the agency that hired a group of foreign students for summer jobs at the facility is facing a proposed $5,000 fine.

An OSHA inspection was done in response to a complaint filed by National Guestworker Alliance on behalf of the group of students. The complaint alleges a number of abuses of the student visa program which is designed to promote cultural exchange as well as exploitative and unsafe conditions in the workplace.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, federal charges were filed against Gary May a superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 workers in 2010.

The charges, filed in federal court in West Virginia, include conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding a federal agency, a felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison. The documents state May directed workers to falsify record books and spoke to them in code as a warning when inspectors were coming so workers could conceal violations and avoid penalties.

Charges also include changing the ventilation system in the mine just before federal inspectors arrived to make it appear that the parts of the mine being examined by inspectors had better air than they actually did.

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning after 13 deaths were linked to the use of a chemical found in paint-removers used to strip bathtubs. Those who died were workers using products containing methylene chloride, an industrial degreaser.

According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, “Each death occurred in a residential bathroom with inadequate ventilation.” The Report also said, “Protective equipment, including a respirator, either was not used or was inadequate to protect against methylene chloride vapor.”

In confined spaces, using products that contain methylene chloride presents deadly risks. The report added that the chemical “has been recognized as potentially fatal to furniture strippers and factory workers but has not been reported previously as a cause of death among bathtub refinishers.”

Work is underway to help prevent flooding along Swatara Creek in Pine Grove Borough and recently unemployed workers are doing much of the work.

According to WNEP.com a federal grant is paying to remove debris from the creek to allow the water to run more smoothly during periods of heavy rain and not back up flooding homes and businesses.

With the job market being tight, the local workers are taking on the cleanup project to help pay the bills. Some of the workers said they are jumping into new territory with the river cleanup, but that is just fine with them.

A vote of approval by the state House of Representatives could mean an increase in salary for corrections managers for the first time in a number of years.

According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, Senate Bill 1019 addresses pay differences between corrections managers and lower-ranking officers in the state Department of Corrections (DOC).

In the article, Susan Bensinger, spokeswoman for the state DOC, is quoted as saying, “The pay jump from sergeant to lieutenant has disappeared since the pay raise was eliminated for a number of years. There was no incentive for a sergeant to make the jump to lieutenant. It is a difficult environment to work in and it was a bit of a morale problem.”

No matter the location or type of job, as workers’ comp attorneys we are always surprised when we read about a hard working employee who is prohibited from receiving benefits after being injured on the job. Such is the case of an Illinois worker who claims he was fired from his job for attempting to file for WC benefits.

According to an article on the MadisonRecord.com, a man was working as a supervisor for an explosives company in Alton, IL when he sustained leg and arm injuries, that kept him out of work for 1 week. When he tried to file for workers’ comp benefits so that he could be reimbursed for his medical costs, his suit claims that he was fired from his job just over 2 weeks later.

In the article, the man’s suit states, “The termination of the Plaintiff’s employment with the Defendant is causually related and intended by the Defendant in retaliation for Plaintiff’s pursuit of his remedies under the Workers’ Compensation Act.”

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