| A Note From the Editor |
Dear Workers' Comp Community:
The Supreme Court of Louisiana has cited Denis Paul Juge's Louisiana Workers' Compensation, Second Edition (LexisNexis), when it ruled on the retroactive application of medical treatment guidelines.
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Monitoring the constant wave of legislative activity across this nation is one thing. Making it clear and understandable is quite another. Lexis has done an excellent job of both with the 'Workers' Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis'. Their choice of local experts is superb, and they provide both clear recap and commentary, giving clarity to what was, legislatively, a very tumultuous year."
-Robert H. Wilson, President & CEO, WorkersCompensation.com, LLC | | |
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Flu Shots for Employees: Don't Hurry Through the Screening Process During Employer-Provided Inoculations |
Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., our Feature National Columnist, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers' compensation.
California employer found not negligent in connection with employee's negative reaction to flu vaccination. Workers' compensation insurer was entitled to $414,000 credit from third-party recovery by injured employee against flu vaccination manufacturer.
 Reversing a decision by a California Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ), a panel of the state's Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) has found the defendant insurer (here, CIGA) entitled to a full credit, pursuant to Labor Code § 3861, in the amount of $415,000, towards its future workers' compensation liability where an employee sustained total and permanent disability from a condition known as transverse myelitis caused by the employee's adverse reaction to a flu shot received at a "Flu Prevention Clinic" held on the employer's premises. The $415,000 fund resulted from a settlement of the injured employee's third-party claim against the flu vaccine manufacturer...read more.
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Update from the benefits review board (may 2014) |
By Karen Koenig, Associate General Counsel, Longshore Benefits Review Board, U.S. Dept. of Labor
 On April 30, 2014, Chairman and Chief Administrative Appeals Judge Nancy S. Dolder retired after 29 years of service with the Department of Labor. Judge Betty Jean Hall, a former chairman and chief judge, has been named Acting Chairman and Chief Administrative Appeals Judge. We anticipate the naming of a fifth Board member before too long. On the budget front, the BRB was shut down during the October 1-16, 2013, budget impasse. During this time, the Clerk of the Board worked intermittently to open mail, and a panel of judges was made available to address one motion for a stay of payments. It is not anticipated that there will be any employee furloughs for the remainder of this fiscal year...read more.
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LARSON'S SPOTLIGHT ON RECENT CASES |
Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., our Feature National Columnist, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers' compensation.
Louisiana: Medical Treatment Schedule Can Be Retroactively Utilized. The Supreme Court of Louisiana, reversing a decision by the state's Court of Appeal, held that La. R.S. 23:1203.1, enacted in 2009 by the state legislature, and which adopted a medical treatment schedule for use in making medical treatment decisions in workers' compensation cases, was a procedural, not a substantive, statute...read more.
Tennessee: 2009 Spinal Condition Was "New or Advance" Injury, Not Just Due to Aging. A special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee has held that in cases involving pre-existing conditions, the law does not weigh the relative importance of the pre-existing condition and an employment-related cause, nor does it look for primary or secondary causes...read more.
North Carolina: Undocumented Worker's Fatal Heart Attack While Fleeing Immigration Service Raid on Employer Was Not Compensable. The death of a lumber mill employee, who came to the United States from Mexico, who had used falsified documentation to obtain employment, and who suffered a fatal heart attack as he and other undocumented workers ran from the employer's premises...read more.
Oregon: Where No Surviving Spouse or Dependent, Estate May Not Recover Benefits Claimant Would Have Been Entitled to Receive. An estate is not a "person" entitled to pursue a claim under ORS 656.218(3), held a divided Court of Appeals of Oregon. Accordingly, where the state's Workers' Compensation Board upheld an insurer's denial of a claim and...read more. |
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Flu Shots for Employees
