The Yogi Berra HWR, plus AIG, Florida lawyers, scaffolding & more news notes

April 2nd, 2009 by Julie Ferguson

Anthony Wright hosts Health Wonk Review at Health Access WeBlog this week, and he serves up some of the wit and wisdom of baseball great Yogi Berra with this week’s best of the health care blogs. It’s a perfect posting for our times when “the future ain’t what it used to be.”
Florida – a bill that would restore a cap on attorney fees passed its first hurdle this week when approved by the Florida House. It must also pass the Senate and be approved by Governor Crist. Attorney fees were considered one of the primary cost drivers in the Florida system and a cap on fees was one of the cornerstones of the 2003 reform, but was overturned in the Supreme Court Murray decision last November. See our prior posts on the topic: Attorney Fees in Florida: What is “Reasonable” and Florida Lawyers Win, Employers Lose.
AIG – In addition to all the other ongoing investigations, state insurance regulators are currently examining whether AIG violated rules governing workers’ compensation sales. “The probe is an offshoot of a 2005 lawsuit from then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who said AIG shortchanged the premiums used in calculating its obligations to state pools. In most states, companies that sell workers’ compensation must fund pools that serve as insurers of last resort to cover injuries at employers that pose unattractive risks.” The 50 state regulators expect to have their investigation completed by June.
Legal matters – In this month’s Legal Clinic at Human Resource Executive, employment law attorney Keisha-Ann G. Gray tackles a few tricky legal questions: the length of time an employer must keep a job open for an employee who suffered a work-related injury, which touches on the anti-retaliation principles that apply across many states; also, a discussion about the relationship between the FMLA and workers’ comp leave.
Scaffolding – Scaffolding (general requirements, construction 29 CFR 1926.451) was the most frequently cited standard in fiscal year 2008 by federal OSHA. It is also the standard for which OSHA proposed the second highest penalties. OSHA has resources to help employers and employees identify scaffolding hazards and solutions to those hazards at scaffolding and the OSHA publications page.
Workplace violence – HUB International Risk Consulting is offering a free Webinar on April 9: To learn more or register: Workplace Violence, What You Don’t Know Could Kill You

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