Risk roundup – Jay and Louise Norris of Colorado Health Insurance Insider host this week’s Cavalcade of Risk – it’s the Colorado nature edition. Congrats to the Norrises on their 5 year blogging anniversary and 10th issue hosting the Cavalcade.
Check the facts – At Comp Time, Roberto Ceniceros tells the story of an insurer relying on a newspaper’s crime report as the basis for denying a claimant’s workers comp benefits. While this situation might seem like one that wouldn’t surface all that often, we’d make the case that it is a cautionary tale for anyone who is using social media as an investigative tool.
Culture of Caring – Dave DePaolo has an interesting post on how the culture of caring relates to a workplace where the turnover rates are high, like fast food joints. Is high-touch communication and an early return-to-work model as effective when turnover is 120%? We’d note that high turnover is not only an impediment to return to work, it’s no doubt also a factor in the number of injuries that occur. New, untrained workers have more injuries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that more than 40% of work-related injury claims are filed by workers who have been on the job for 12 months or less, and a NIOSH study found that employees 24 years old or younger are two times more likely to suffer a nonfatal injury than their older co-workers.
Medical Costs – In our last news roundup, we linked to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s recent report that average family benefits premiums are up 9%. Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters offers his thoughts on why premiums are up so much when medical costs are flat.
Workplace Violence – Michael Fox of Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer posts about OSHA’s new directive on procedures for investigating workplace violence complaints. He notes that two industry groups get singled out for particular focus: Healthcare and Social Service Settings and Late-Night Retail Settings.
Anniversary of Patel Memo – At Lexis-Nexis, Robin E. Kobayashi commemorates the 10 year anniversary of the Patel Memo. Bonus points to you if you know what the Patel memo is. Here is a clue: it launched an entire workers comp-related industry.
Case to watch – The EEOC is suing Texas-based BAE Systems for violating the ADA by firing a man who weighed 680 pounds. The man had worked at his job for 16 years and had logged good performance evaluations. The intersection of obesity and the ADA is one to watch.
When light duty runs off the rails Safety News Alert discusses a case of a worker who returned to work on light duty. While on light duty, he received partial disability benefits because the job didn’t pay as much as his previous position. But the employee had trouble getting along with his supervisor and asked to be laid off – which the employer granted. The employee then applied for full work comp benefits. Check out the court’s decision.
New blog Well, new to us. TexasM Mutual Insurance Company’s blog has been up and running for about 15 months now, but we just discovered it via our Twitter feed. There are some good posts, particularly some good safety information. Texas Mutual Insurance Company is the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, with approximately 32 percent of the market. (And remember, Texas is a state where private employers can choose whether or not to carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage.)
Also of interest…
Posts Tagged ‘EEOC’
Tip Toeing Around Obesity
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010Obesity as a health problem is not going away, nor is the issue of whether obese people are considered disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The latest iteration of this saga involves the late Lisa Harrison, a morbidly obese employee of Resources for Human Development (RHD) in New Orleans. Harrison, an intervention prevention/specialist, worked with the children of mothers undergoing treatment for addiction. By all accounts, she performed her job well, but RHD viewed her as limited in a number of major life activities, including walking, so they fired her. Harrison died before the EEOC filed suit, but the lawsuit lives on.
Keith Hill, the field director of the EEOC’s New Orleans office, stated, “This is a classic case of disability bias, based on myths and stereotypes. The evidence shows that Ms. Harrison was a good and dedicated employee who did not deserve to be fired. All covered employers, whether for-profit or non-profit, must abide by the ADA’s provisions.”
It’s important to note that the EEOC is not basing the lawsuit on obesity itself, but rather on the idea that RHD perceived Harrison to be disabled. That’s why they fired her. The larger issue – so to speak – is whether morbid obesity in itself is a disability. This particular case will not attempt to resolve that condundrum. Thus far, the courts have resisted the idea that any and all obesity is a disability. They look for physiological causes for the obesity, including thyroid disorders and genetics. If there is no specific medical cause for the weight problem, obese people are generally not considered to be disabled.
It all comes down – as it usually does – to the ability to perform the essential functions of the job. Harrison did not seek any accommodation based upon a disability. She simply did her job and apparently did it well. It will be interesting to see whether the RHD defense raises the issue of risk: whether Harrison’s morbid obesity placed her or her young charges at immediate risk of harm – not hypothetical, but imminent – a difficult standard to prove.
Related posts:
If you search the Insider for “obesity” you will find three pages of postings. Here are a couple of highlights:
The story of Adam Childers, the obese pizza maker whose stomach stapling operation was covered by workers comp.
The federal case involving Stephen Grindle, whose job loss due to obesity was not covered by the ADA.
Cavalcade of Risk and other news briefs
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010The first Cavalcade of Risk of the new decade has been posted by Louise of Colorado Health Insurance Insider – check it out. And while you’re visiting the Cavalcade, why not check out the rest of the entries on the C.H.I.I. blog? We don’t live in Colorado, but if we did, we’d definitely be doing business with Jay and Louise Norris.
The importance of the right doctor – Roberto Ceniceros of Comp Time posts about a new John Hopkins study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that shows that 3.7% of doctors accounted for 72% of claim costs in a study of claims data from Louisiana Workers’ Comp Corporation from 1998 to 2002. He notes that one of the researchers commented, “…it makes sense to analyze how practice patterns drive costs before instituting sweeping reform.”
Sandy Blunt and the goings on in North Dakota – Good for Peter Rousmaniere and Joe Paduda for shedding light on the travesty of a prosecution related to Sandy Blunt, former CEO of North Dakota’s Workforce Safety and Insurance. I met Sandy Blunt at a conference in DC a number of years ago and had been following the turn-around he was effecting in North Dakota’s system. He struck me as progressive, innovative, and very sharp – it seemed a real coup for North Dakota to have his services. Then came a series of surprising charges resulting in his ouster. In following the case, it appears that most of these charges were minor, trumped up administrative issues, such as spending a few hundred dollars on lunches and gift certificates to motivate staff – practices that were not uncommon in other state departments. Other more serious charges were dismissed or shown to be erroneous. Blunt has appealed his conviction to the state’s Supreme Court and we hope he will prevail.
Insurance Fraud – Emily Holbrook of Risk Monitor posts about a spike in insurance fraud as indicated by a recent report from the Coalition of Insurance Fraud: “Overall, the economy in 2009 appears to have had a significant impact on the incidence of fraud. On average, fraud bureaus reported the number of referrals received and cases opened increased in all 15 categories of fraud included in the survey.” Unsurprisingly, the biggest number of fraud cases occurred in the category of bogus health insurance.
Popcorn flavorings vs public and worker health – Celeste Monforton of The Pump Handle provides an update on a public health issue of concern to workers and consumers alike: butter flavorings in popcorn. After a public outcry about diacetyl flavorings, which were causing worker and consumer health problems, the industry began substituting a product labeled as “no diacetyl.” Preliminary reports from NIOSH indicate that these chemical changes do not translate into less health risk to exposed workers and consumers.
EEOC report – Workplace Prof Blog posts about Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement statistics, which were recently issued for fiscal year 2009. A sampling from the EEOC press release: “The FY 2009 data show that private sector job bias charges (which include those filed against state and local governments) alleging discrimination based on disability, religion and/or national origin hit record highs. The number of charges alleging age-based discrimination reached the second-highest level ever. Continuing a decade-long trend, the most frequently filed charges with the EEOC in FY 2009 were charges alleging discrimination based on race (36%), retaliation (36%), and sex-based discrimination (30%). Multiple types of discrimination may be alleged in a single charge filing.”
Work violence – Does the economy play a role in workplace violence? That’s a question posed by the Christian Science Monitor in the light of a recent shooting rampage by a disgruntled worker of manufacturer ABB Group in St. Louis that left three dead and several wounded. One factor that the article did not reference is the stress that many people feel post holidays. This story brought to mind a post-holiday workplace shooting rampage in Massachusetts a number of years ago involving another disgruntled employee.
Annals of Dress Codes: With That Ring, I thee Fire!
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Hawwah Santiago was a “sandwich artist” at a Subway restaurant in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She was fired after refusing to remove her nose ring while at work. Visible body piercings (other than earrings) violated the company dress code. Ms. Santiago sued, claiming that the nose ring was a practice of her Nuwaibian religion. The Nuwaibians, based in Eatonton GA, are a black supremacist cult with an elaborate set of beliefs, some of which require an inordinate degree of faith. Here is a very brief sample, courtesy of Wickipedia:
The Illuminati have nurtured a child, Satan’s son, who was born on 6 June 1966 at the Dakota House on 72nd Street in New York to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis of the Rothschild/Kennedy families. The Pope was present at the birth and performed necromantic ceremonies. The child was raised by former U.S. president Richard Nixon and now lives in Belgium, where it is hooked up bodily to a computer called “The Beast 3M” or “3666. [Hmmm. Wonder what brand of virus control is used on the computer.]
There is an underground road connecting New York and London.
The issue here is not the quality of Santiago’s beliefs, but whether these beliefs entitle her to an exemption from company dress policy. The EEOC supported her charge of religious discrimination in the firing and brought suit against the employer. (While a government agency may not be in an ideal position to determine where religion ends and whackiness begins, the EEOC appears to have erred on the side of inclusiveness.)
A jury found that Ms. Santiago did not wear the nose ring because of a “sincerely held religious belief.” Not satisfied, the EEOC sought injunctive relief and punitive damages. But the court dismissed the case. Judge John Antoon II wrote: “The EEOC’s own publications acknowledge that some inquiry into the sincerity of an employee’s belief is appropriate. Otherwise, an employer would have to grant an accommodation any time an employee requested one.”
The leader of the Nuwaubians, Dwight York, currently rules his flock from a jail cell, where he resides under a sentence of more than 135 years for racketeering and child molestation (“suffer the children”?). Oh, ye of little faith! Someday in the not-too-distant future, York will begin his leisurely stroll through the underground road that runs from New York to London. Deep beneath the turbulent waters of the Atlantic Ocean, he will doubtless pause along the way for a delicious sub, lovingly prepared by a sandwich artist with dazzling piercings. When he emerges at last in London – near the lions guarding Nelson’s column, one assumes – the doubters will be vanquished and Nuwaibian claims for religious accommodation will finally be deemed credible.
Health Wonk Review and other news briefs
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Jared Rhoads has posted a fresh Health Wonk Review at The Lucidicus Project. There are many interesting posts running the gamut: healthcare reform, home birth, hospice, hypertension and a variety of other topics that the health bloggers found noteworthy in the last two weeks.
Other news notes
Bad Manager of the Month Club – Scott Polston, an employee of Foster Farms Dairy in California, suddenly began getting a series bizarre phone calls and dozens of strangers coming to his home with unusual requests. The callers and visitors were responding to bogus ads that had been placed on craigslist, ads that were subsequently traced back to his supervisor, Michael Odell Simpson. At the time of this report, Simpson was no longer employed by the Dairy and was facing criminal complaints. Polston filed a worker’s compensation claim over stress.
Experts Detail Perils To Comp Insurers – “Unconventional threats to the workers’ compensation system, ranging from Medicare system red tape to recession problems to employers liability difficulties,” – these are all perils for employers and threats to the doctrine of exclusive remedy discussed by panelists at the recent at the Workers Compensation Educational Conference presented by the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute in partnership with The National Underwriter Company.
Survey: Consumers Would Support TWD Ban – In light of our recent posts on texting while driving this week, we were interested to learn that a recent Harris Interactive survey revealed that 80% of Americans favor a ban on texting while driving, while two thirds favor a ban on cell phone calls, and more than half say they would support a ban on cell phone use altogether.
Labor Day – As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living. Children were also working, as they provided cheap labor to employers and laws against child labor were not strongly enforced. With the long hours and terrible working conditions, American unions became more prominent and voiced their demands for a better way of life. On Tuesday September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers marched from city hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first-ever Labor Day parade. – More at Labor Day History.
Workplace safety – We started the week with a texting-while-driving shock video that has been making the rounds on the Web. Today, we found a more uplifting video highlighting the importance of workplace safety from the Washington Department State Department of Labor & Industries:
Mandatory English at the workplace?
Tuesday, February 10th, 2004As U.S. demographics continue to shift, one of the tough issues facing employers is an increase in the multilingual work force. Some employers mandate English-only in the workplace, but should they? Discrimination suits based on such policies are on the increase, yet employers defend the practice on the basis of business necessity, productivity, safety, and the like. The EEOC keeps a sharp eye out for potential violations of the Civil Rights Act, and fines can be steep. Employers certainly need to be aware of EEOC Speak English-only Rules.
Culling from several sources including his own personal experiences, George’s Employment Blawg has a thoughtful exploration of this complex topic that’s well worth a read – we won’t try to duplicate his excellent research here. Don’t miss his sensible recommendation and sample policy at the end of the post.
This issue of workers who have a limited command of English or for whom English isn’t the first or native language is of great interest to us in terms of safety and prevention. Non-English speaking workers are frequently at greater risk in the workplace than their English speaking colleagues. For example:
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 815 Hispanics were killed on the job in 2000, an 11.6 percent increase over the previous year. This double-digit increase stands in sharp contrast to the two percent decrease in workplace fatalities for all workers.
The death toll for Hispanic workers is even starker in the construction industry, which leads all industries in fatal accidents. In 2000, construction fatalities overall dropped three percent — the industry’s first decline since 1996. The number of Hispanics killed at construction sites, however, jumped 24 percent.”
What are some best practices in this area? We certainly don’t pretend to know them all, but we’ve seen a few over the years: native speakers hired as translators to help train and orient new workers; telephonic translation services; worker buddy or mentor programs; on-site English-as-second-language classes that focus on workplace issues.
Here are a few articles resources on the topic, and hopefully as we explore this issue further over time, we can bring you more.
OSHA: Listos para ayudarle – Ready to Help You
The Language of Safety
