WTC workers get a break – The workers’ compensation registration deadline has been extended by a year for recovery workers who were involved in the World Trade Center cleanup. Rupal Parekh of Business Insurance reports that WTC workers and volunteers will now have until August 19, 2008 to submit a registration. Registration extends the time line in which an injured worker or volunteer can file a claim. This is good news since recovery-related illnesses are still surfacing.
Retaliation is a no-no, part 2 – We recently cited a huge judgement for wrongful termination in a news roundup. This week, courtesy of Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance, we note that in Kimberlee Trosper vs. Bag ‘N Save the Nebraska Supreme Court recently extended the state’s prohibition against retaliatory firing of workers compensation claimants to include retaliatory demotions. For more on this case, see the court’s ruling (PDF).
The health care debate – Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters is sparking some heated discussions in his role as myth buster in a recent series of posts about universal health care coverage. In the first post, he lists the common arguments against universal coverage. In two follow-on posts, he examines a few of these objections: we can’t afford it and people are uninsured because they choose not to buy insurance. We look forward to following the rest of the series.
New blog discovery – We are happy to add Hazards Recognized to our sidebar blogroll. This occupational safety and prevention blog is a collaborative effort by Jason Heilpern, Corporate Safety Director of Healey Railroad, Barton Jones, president of EduSafe and Tom Lash, a Workplace Safety Professional at Insource Safety. It’s great to have some hands-on safety experts adding their voices to the blogosphere. One recent post of note: Honesty in Safety discusses the fact that most companies hiring contractors don’t check up on safety data submitted in the bid process – and many bidders lie on their forms to gain a competitive edge.
NY WC ruling re immigrant workers – Peter Rousmaniere at Working Immigrants discusses Ramroop v. Flexo-Craft Printing Inc., 501026, 06/21/2007, a recent New York appellate court ruling that limits workers compensation protections for illegal workers. Peter notes that this contributes to a bifurcation of the nation’s worker protections into two systems – one for legal, the other for illegal workers – a slope we view as slippery.