Posts Tagged ‘employment law’

Marijuana: coming to a state near you – and probably sooner than you think!

Thursday, November 15th, 2012

OK, this is something we never contemplated…straight from the Seattle Police Department’s Blotter, we bring you Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle.
The guide offers an FAQ for citizens about the recently enacted Washington law, which decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults over the age of 21. And Washington is not alone… in Colorado, 55% of the voters recently voted to legalize individual possession of small “recreational” amounts of marijuana. Contrary to what you might think, the vote wasn’t all cast by erstwhile hippies and young pot aficionados – some conservative proponents cited the potential billions in tax revenue and the benefits of unclogging the court systems and freeing police time by removing nettlesome petty criminal prosecutions
These voter approvals for recreational use mark a new twist – prior legislative approvals have dealt with medical use of the drug. Last week’s election saw other marijuana ballot initiatives in this vein – medical marijuana use was approved in Massachusetts, making it the 18th state (plus DC) to give the nod to medical marijuana use; however, Arkansas voters nixed their ballot initiative 51% to 48%.
The Devil is in the Details
Even with state initiatives, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. Plus, as with most things, the devil is in the details and most states are scrambling to figure things out. But the train has left the station and is definitely gathering steam so this is an issue that employers need to take seriously. In the Seattle Police guide linked above, we note that the police are looking at the employment-related implications of the law, as well as other matters.

Q. Will police officers be able to smoke marijuana?
A. As of right now, no. This is still a very complicated issue.
Q. If I apply for a job at the Seattle Police Department, will past (or current) marijuana use be held against me?
A. The current standard for applicants is that they have not used marijuana in the previous three years. In light of I-502, the department will consult with the City Attorney and the State Attorney General to see if and how that standard may be revised.

“Complicated issue” sums things up nicely. We’ve compiled some commentary on the matter from various employment law authorities (and will no doubt bring you more in the future!)
Over at the LexisNexis Employment Law Community, attorney Donna Ballman reminds employees that Legal Marijuana Use Can Still Get You Fired. She cites case law on issues ranging from drug testing to the ADA. Most interestingly, she also discusses state laws that prohibit discrimination against medical marijuana users and prohibitions against termination/discrimination based upon an employee’s lawful activities off-duty.
Vance O. Knapp writes about Amendment 64: how do employers address the legalization of marijuana in Colorado? He discusses this new law and the state’s prior law allowing for medical marijuana use, and offers thoughts for employers. He cites this passage from Colorado’s law:

Nothing in this Section is intended to require an employer to permit or to accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale or growing of marijuana in the workplace or to affect the ability of employers to have policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees.

His post appears at Lexology, which has a good library of employment-law related articles on medical marijuana
Greg Lamm of the Puget Sound Business Journal spoke with labor and employment attorney James Shore, who offered five tips for employers to prepare for the new law. You should read his comments in full detail, but here’s a quick summary of key points:
1. Have a written policy covering substances such as drugs and alcohol.
2. Make sure that policy covers any drugs that are illegal under state, federal and local law
3. Make sure that the policy prohibits any detectable amount of illegal drugs, as opposed to using an “under the influence” standard.
4. Employers with multiple locations in multiple states should have one consistent policy
5. Be prepared to see marijuana come up in collective-bargaining and termination negotiations with unionized employees.
We’ve also dusted off a few prior posts that we made on medical marijuana because they outline some issues employers will need to consider.
The current buzz on medical marijuana and the workplace
One Toke Over the Line
You can find more of our blog posts about pot by searching “marijuana.”

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News Roundup: Effects of the election, medical privacy, enforcement & more

Friday, November 9th, 2012

Obama’s election & employment law, insurance, worker safety – Stephanie Thomas of The Proactive Employer posts about Obama’s Next Four Years: What It Means for HR and Employment Law. Daniel Schwartz of Connecticut Employment Law Blog weighs in with Four Potential Employment Law Impacts of Obama’s Next Four Years. Paul Secunda of Workplace Prof Blog posts about the 2012 Election and the fate of state labor law Initiatives, and John Hyman of Ohio Employer’s Law Blog says that it just doesn’t matter: “You should still follow the golden rule. You should still treat employees with dignity and respect. You should still pay employees for all the hours they work. You should still avoid discrimination, and harassment, and retaliation.” At Property Casualty 360, Arthur Postal weighs in on The Election’s Impact on Insurance Issues, and from the public policy and worker safety perspective, Celeste Monforton of The Pump Handle offers a worker safety wishlist for Obama’s second term.
Medical privacy – Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance reports on a Georgia Supreme Court ruling that gives employer access to health information from an injured worker’s treating physician. “The case of Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. et al. v. McRae overturns an appeals court’s 2011 ruling that held an employees is not required to authorize such communications in order to receive workers comp benefits.” Dave DePaolo discusses this case in his post Privacy and Elections – Cultural Expectations
Texas pill mills – Dozens of health licenses surrendered in pill mill raids – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and 14 local and state agencies have conducted and eight-month probe of pill mills in Texas, which they called Operation King of the Pill. “The raids have already forced three doctors, five pharmacies, four physician assistants and 13 advanced nurse practitioners to surrender their federal licenses for dispensing controlled substances.”
Comorbidities – Study finds that heart issues hit employers’ bottom lines – “Robert Page, an associate professor with the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, found that lost productivity costs from acute coronary syndrome range from about $7,943 for short-term disability claims to about $52,473 for long-term ones. / The report argued that heart problems should be considered a chronic health condition alongside diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.”
New York scaffolding sweep – According to Occupational Heath & Safety, “Top officials of two New York City departments recently announced their personnel had made 30 arrests while confiscating fraudulent scaffold certification and U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety cards at construction sites in four boroughs. Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, and Buildings DOB Commissioner Robert D. LiMandri said Oct. 25 that the two-week sweep confiscated more than 70 cards. These are required to work on scaffolding and for workers at major buildings in the city.” Scaffolding is an ongoing public and worker safety issue in New York. (See: NY scaffolding: one miracle survivor saved by physics; others not so lucky)
Noteworthy news

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Social media and workers comp

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Are Facebook, Twitter and other social media postings fair game when conducting a workers comp fraud investigation?
We’ve posted on this topic previously, including a reference to a successful Facebook-related investigation conducted by New York State Insurance Department’s Fraud Bureau: social networking, workers comp & the law. Now, two of the experts that we cited in that post – Professor Gregory Duhl of the William Mitchell College of Law and attorney Jaclyn Millner – have a new article that is worth your attention: Social media and insurance fraud.
In the article, they answer our opening question with a strong affirmative, making a comparison between internet searches of public social networking profiles to the more common fraud investigation tool of video surveillance of property-casualty claimants. In fact, they make the case for why insurance investigators should be spending even more company time on Facebook, suggesting that postings or photos can substantiate some other evidence found in an investigation. While privacy issues are of concern, they state:

A privacy argument is unlikely to prevail in court because a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in whether he or she has a social networking account or in what is posted in his or her profile. Even if a claimant protects his or her social networking profile information with privacy settings, the information is available to at least some third parties, to whom the claimant gives access (the claimant’s “friends”).

Some courts have gone so far as to say that there is no privacy interest in information stored on the internet because even if information, such as social networking information, is protected with privacy settings, it could be accessed by certain members of the public.

The recent case of Romano v. Steelcase Inc. shows that anything posted on Facebook or any other social networking site, whether the user has privacy settings or not, is likely discoverable.

Social Media & Employment Law
The social media landscape is dynamic and the courts are grappling with many thorny issues. If it isn’t one of the top issues you are tracking in employment law, it needs to be. While fraud investigation is one area of interest, there are many other significant issues: how social media is used in hiring and pre-employment screening; social media policies in and out of the workplace; monitoring employees in the workplace, and more. Here are some good resources to help you keep current with the dynamic intersection of social media and employment law:
Think Before You Click: Strategies for Managing Social Media in the Workplace is a newly released book that we can’t wait to read. The book’s authors and editors are among some of the legal authorities we most frequently turn to on the topic of social media – several are practicing bloggers. We would particularly cite the following two authors, who frequently blog on social media:
**Employment Law Attorney Jon Hyman: Ohio Employer’s Law Blog
**Employment Law Attorney Daniel Schwartz: Connecticut Employment Law Blog
And from the plaintiff perspective, we would recognize attorneys Jon Gelman and Alan S. Pierce who paired up for a podcast on Privacy, Clients and Social Media. Gelman frequently posts about social media on his blog, Workers’ Compensation (which is well worth reading on other topics, too). He also has authored articles on social media, such asFacebook Becomes a Questionable Friend of Workers’ Compensation.

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Risk roundup, virtual WC event, presumption, self insurance, haboob video & more

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Risk roundup – This week’s edition of Cavalcade of Risk – edition #135 – is being hosted by The Notwithstanding Blog. In that several countries celebrate their independence in the month of July, our host has a suitably related theme that may test the breadth of your geographic trivia. Oh, and there are some good posts this week, too!
bi-conference.JPGMark September 22 on your calendar now – Better yet, head on over to Business Insurance and register for Virtual Advantage 2011 – Workers Comp Trends & Cost Control Strategies. We’re very pleased that our own Tom Lynch will be participating on a blogger panel with three other blog luminaries: Roberto Ceniceros, Joe Paduda, and Mark Walls. There will also be a keynote by NCCI’s Harry Shuford, an expert panel on pharmaceutical cost controls for worker’s comp – and more. It’s a one-day virtual conference – and best of all – there is no charge to attend.
Presumption – And speaking of Mark Walls, congrats to him on his first column in Risk & Insurance. If you don’t know Mark by name, suffice it to say he is the powerhouse behind LinkedIn’s popular Work Comp Analysis Group. In Not all claims are created equal he talks about the thorny issue of presumption and how presumption laws fiddle with a basic tenet of the workers compensation pact: that the burden to prove an injury or illness “arose out of employment” falls to the employee.
Self Insurance – If the workers comp market continues to harden, as many are predicting, many employers might be looking to alternatives to the traditional insurance options. In Risk Management Magazine, Richard C. Frese, a consulting actuary from Milliman, tackles the topic in his article Does Your Self-Insured Program Need a Tune-Up?. It’s a good overview of what you need to know if you are considering the move.
Employment law – Attorney Phillip Miles posts a handy SCOTUS Employment Law Year in Review 2011 – a summary of cases with links for more information.
New blog discovery – check out Texas Mutual’s Blog. We particularly liked the recent post on The ABCs of new employee safety. This is an important issue – in their own claim analysis, they found that roughly 27% of job-related fatalities involve employees who have been on a new job for less than 90 days. They also cite the OSHA stat that 40% of all injured employees have been on the job for less than a year. They also note that “new employee” may not just be a new hire: “New employees include people who transfer to a new position, return to work after an extended absence, operate a new piece of equipment or implement a new procedure.” Check out the post for tips on this topic.
Wow of the week – a little off topic, but check out this amazing video of the massive haboob (dust storm) that hit Phoenix on July 5.
Briefs
* Opioids, deaths, and workers comp
* LAPD prescription drug abuse tied to disabilities
* Consumer Reports: Can you read this drug label?
* The 10 worst states for P&C insurers
* Safety tip sheet: Livestock handling
* Safety on the loading dock

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Holiday Health Wonkery and other news briefs

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Brad Wright has an excellent holiday edition of Health Wonk Review posted at his blog, Wright on Health – check it out! It’s the last issue until 2011 so fill up on your health wonkery now!
And in other news briefs….
Nix on the Mine Safety Bill – Ken Ward of Coal Tattoo reports that an attempt to resurrect a major mine safety reform bill was defeated in the House of Representatives, but that the House did approve more funding for mine safety.
The Most Influential People in Workers Comp for 2010 – as designated by Workers’ Comp Executive – hat tip to Roberto at Comp Time for the pointer.
Healthcare reform and workers comp – Joe Paduda or Managed Care Matters offers his analysis of the SwissRe analysis of health reform and workers comp.
Health Care and the Uninsured – HealthLawProfBlog offers helpful links to important parts of the updated Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
The Bunkhouse Rule – Do you know what this is? If not, Judge Tom offers a good example.
Overview of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes – atty. Gerald Maatman presents a backgrounder and overview of the class action gender discrimination suit against Wal-Mart which is being heard by the Supreme Court.
Eight tips for meeting with a potentially violent employee – tips from attorney Robert Bettac’s recent presentation at BLR’s National Employment Law Update are posted at HR Daily Advisor.
Worried about scanner-related radiation? – Check out this line of radiation shielding and privacy undergarments. Not sure if they work, but they are a hoot.
A few new-found resources

  • Actuary Info Blog – we’ve linked to this smart blog before – it bills itself as a “brain teaser Blog with non-conventional, witty, remarkable and serendipitous financial and actuarial related news.” There are some fun and thoughtful entries.
  • The OSHA Updater – a safety blog by Chad Marshman of the EasySafetySchool.com
  • DocuBase – a hand-picked selection of resources, reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think thanks and other public interest organizations
  • Safe Lifting Portal focuses on patient safety and caregiver injury prevention, sponsored by Liko, a designer and manufacturer of lifts, slings and patient transfer accessories.
  • Crowd Management Safety Guidelines for Retailers – an OSHA Fact Sheet

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Social networking, workers comp & the law

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

In the past, we’ve featured assorted news items about how employers and insurers are turning to social networks to monitor employees for potential fraud. In fact, just last week, we learned about how the New York State Insurance Department’s Fraud Bureau recently cracked a case as a result of a Facebook posting. But social media and how it intersects with workers compensation is all still pretty uncharted territory.
Given this, we were delighted to learn of a recent paper specifically dealing with this area of law: Social Networking and Workers’ Compensation Law at the Crossroads, authored by Gregory M. Duhl of William Mitchell College of Law and Jaclyn S. Millner of Fitch, Johnson, Larson & Held, P.A. It’s a substantial document – 75 pages, to be precise, that looks at the use of social networking evidence in workers’ compensation litigation. It’s scheduled to be published in the Pace Law Review, but you can download a free copy of the report at the above link. We’d encourage you to run, not walk, to get your copy – it’s interesting, well written, and thoroughly annotated, and you don’t need to be an attorney to find it valuable.
We think that the remarks which the authors make at the conclusion of their paper do an excellent job of explaining the importance of both the issues at hand and the value of this work in particular, so we are taking the liberty of reproducing them:

“The lawyers, judges, insurance companies, and parties within workers’ compensation systems will increasingly confront the discovery, privacy, professional responsibility, and evidentiary issues that arise at the crossroads of workers’ compensation law and social networking. In the absence of case law and ethics opinions that discuss these exact issues, this article starts with the rules that govern workers’ compensation cases, and discusses how they might apply to lawyers gathering, producing, and introducing evidence from social networking sites. But this article is only a starting point. As workers’ compensation systems are built on efficiency, flexibility, and discretion, workers’ compensation is an ideal area of law for lawyers and judges to experiment with how to address some of the unique challenges and opportunities that social networking poses in litigation.

While there is a lack of legal authority on these issues, that should not cloud the reality that many employees are using social networking in their daily lives. One thing of which we are certain is that lawyers who practice in the workers’ compensation field need to be able to navigate around social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace, and know how they work. Social networking is no longer a new technology, and ignorance should not be an excuse to the applicability of evidence from social networking sites in litigation.”

In the spirit of those remarks, we’d like to leave you with this video clip which gives a good overview of how social media is changing the landscape. Startling as it is, it’s already almost a year out of date.

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The current buzz on medical marijuana and the workplace

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

In our news roundup Wednesday, we cited a few items about medical marijuana, the most interesting to our purposes being the recent California court ruling about whether marijuana should be covered as a workers’ comp medical benefit. In his posting on the topic, Roberto Ceniceros notes that there is a growing likelihood that medical marijuana will become a comp issue at some point, particularly since NJ just became the 14th state to allow medical marijuana use.
Now honestly, we hadn’t given a great deal of thought to these laws previously, but if 14 states have enacted such legislation, it seems to be nearing critical mass so we went Googling to see what we could learn. Not only did we find a good resource that offers an overview of the 14 legal medical marijuana states, we also learned that there are an additional 12 states with pending legislation to legalize medical marijuana. The site is a great resource for tracking legislation, and it provides summaries with links to relevant state laws and to state sites. Did you ever think you’d see the day when states were posting marijuana FAQs?
Medical marijuana and employment issues
Clearly, medical marijuana is an issue that requires attention from any employers who have employees in affected states. And judging by the trend, it’s something all employers may want to think about, starting now. Above and beyond complex issues such as workers comp, there are some immediate employment issues that come to mind: Can employers refuse to hire someone who is authorized by the state to use medical marijuana? Can an authorized medical marijuana user be fired for flunking a drug test? And if fired, can an employee file a discrimination suit under ADA? How do drug testing programs handle positive results for authorized users? And if marijuana is not considered an illicit substance due to medical authorization, how do zero tolerance programs need to adjust for this? How do employers authenticate those who are authorized to use marijuana versus those who are not authorized? And it’s not just employers who have questions – authorized users of medical marijuana have employment questions too.
At Law.com, Tresa Baldas looks at many of these issues: Employers in a Haze Over Medical Marijuana Use. Citing Danielle Urban of the Denver office of Atlanta’s Fisher & Phillips:

” … under federal law, employers are not prohibited from taking adverse actions against someone who tests positive for marijuana. But Colorado permits medical marijuana, and another state law says it’s illegal for an employer to fire someone for engaging in legal, off-duty behavior.
And then there’s the Americans With Disabilities Act to consider. Under the ADA, an employee fired for using pot for health reasons could file a discrimination lawsuit.
“It’s a gray area to know what you can do,” Urban said. “But I think it’s still risky to just fire someone for using it.”

At least in Colorado, the caution seems well placed. According to Renee McGaw writing in the Denver Business Journal, the state has two conflicting laws: one that says that employers don’t have to accommodate medical marijuana use in the workplace while another prohibits firing employees for engaging in legal activities during nonworking hours.
On the heels of New Jersey’s recent law legalizing medical marijuana, Amy Komoroski Wiwi and Nicole P. Crifo of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler PC also examine some of these issues in the unintended Impact of New Jersey’s New Medical Marijuana Law on the Workplace.
The authors note that “The Act states that a qualifying patient “shall not be subject to any civil or administrative penalty, or denied any right or privilege” related to the medical use of marijuana, but it also explicitly provides that employers are not required “to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.'” This is similar verbiage to some other state laws. (Colorado: “Nothing in this section shall require any employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any work place.” Rhode Island: “…employers are not required to make accommodations for employees who use medical marijuana.” Montana: “Nothing … may be construed to require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace.” )
As for the issue of drug testing, the authors suggest caution when medical marijuana is cited as a defense in a positive drug test result. First, there is the matter of whether the user is authorized or not; and if so, an employer must consider whether it could be subject to liability under laws prohibiting disability discrimination for taking any adverse action against an authorized and registered user.
It’s still uncertain ground. Courts in California and Montana have upheld employers that terminated employees who failed company drug tests, but each state law is different and issues haven’t been fully tested in the courts. In its FAQs, when asked “What should I tell my employer if I am subjected to a drug test?,” the state of Montana responds: “The law is silent on this issue.”
Wiwi and Crifo offer some good tips to employers:

  • Review the company’s policies and other documents addressing drug use and testing (including drug testing consent forms) and update them as necessary to state your position on medical marijuana use by job applicants and employees.
  • Ensure that all Human Resources and drug testing personnel are aware of the company’s policy regarding medical marijuana.
  • Adopt appropriate measures for maintaining the confidentiality of employees’ and applicants’ registry status.
  • Maintain uniformity in the enforcement of any drug testing policy and response to positive test results.

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Bosstown’s Health Wonk Review, and assorted other news briefs

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Check out Health Wonk Review: Bosstown edition. Tinker Ready at Boston Health News makes her debut as host with an informative and entertaining edition of the biweekly roundup of the best of he health policy blogs.
News briefs
Michael Fox of Jottings By an Employer’s Lawyer offers a great rundown of Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s opinions on labor and employment law.
More state AGs file against Chrysler bankruptcy – we’ve blogged about Michigan and Ohio; now Illinois and Indiana join the list of AGs that are attempting to protect both workers and their state workers comp systems from any adverse effects. The bone of contention is that under the terms of the proposed sale, Fiat would not be required to assume workers’ compensation liabilities of injured Chrysler workers and individual state systems would be forced to deal with these uncovered workers.
Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters has completed his firm’s First Annual Workers Compensation Bill Review Survey.
Peter Rousmaniere’s article A Brutal Interpretation in Risk and Insurance tells the story of Taha Saad’s unfair treatment under the defense Base Act. Saad, an Iraqi translator, worked for the Army until he lost his legs in an IED explosion. A U.S. Department of Labor judge recently affirmed AIG’s weekly payment of $46.15 for his permanent disability.
Clamping Down on Claim Costs – nine practical tips for managing workers’ comp losses by Lori Daugherty of Claims Magazine
Safe Lifting Portal
Hearing Conservation Training That Works
Exotic Dancers Are Employees, Not Independent Contractors

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New Overtime Regulations Impact Workers Compensation

Monday, October 4th, 2004

[We are pleased to welcome as a guest blogger today our favorite actuary, Don Bashline of Bashline & Associates, based in Watertown, MA. Don has some interesting thoughts on the federal government’s new regulations pertaining to overtime, which have a direct impact on workers compensation.]
On August 23, 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor’s new regulations defining worker eligibility for overtime pay went into effect. In a possible attempt at subliminal spin, the program is called “Fairpay.” Let’s say it’s “fair” for some and not so fair for others. For a critical view of the regs, see the white paper at the Economic Policy Institute. Although the net effect of the new regulations won’t be totally clear for a while, no one disputes that some low-wage workers (earning less than $23,660 per year) will gain overtime protection, while many others will lose it. Among the apparent losers: sous chefs, childcare workers and a very large number of supervisors…
The regulations are complex and employers will have some flexibility in implementing them. There have already been cases where employers have given raises (good news?) to employees near the $23,660 threshold, resulting in those workers losing eligibility for overtime (bad news!). Others have chosen to preserve overtime eligibility for workers in high-demand occupations (for example, nurses) that theoretically could have been exempted under the new regulations.
What does this mean for workers compensation? The net effect of the new regulations is to lower the wages of many workers. This will impact workers compensation in two ways: First, overtime wages are included in the calculation of an injured worker’s average weekly wage. With changes in eligibility for overtime, average weekly wages for many workers will decline. As a result, the weekly workers comp indemnity payments for these “exempt” injured workers will also decline.
In addition, these changes will impact workers compensation premiums, which are calculated based on a rate per $100 of payroll. With payrolls declining due to the new regulations, insurance premiums will also decline. Insurers, particularly those who have a high percentage of premiums in affected classifications, will need to think about calculating the estimated impact of these changes on both premium income and claim costs. Employers, especially those who are self-insured, might also need to assess the impact of the new rules on their projected workers compensation costs.
The impact of these new regulations on workers comp calls for careful scrutiny in the coming months. LynchRyan will keep you posted.

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Workers compensation and related news from the weblog world

Saturday, March 20th, 2004

Adjuster.com brings us the story of California’s $7 billion workers compensation miscalculation.
“The reform savings calculations resulting from the late last year (September 2003) Reform and subsequent predicted figures were recalculated by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) and found to contain egregious errors which retranslated into a newly predicted potential savings for this year, 2004. The prediction in savings is to about 7 billion dollars overall for the Workers’ Compensation system.”

Jottings By an Employer’s Lawyer points to an upcoming debate over domestic violence legislation that would have FMLA type implications for employers.
“Although domestic violence is certainly a problem and one that does need to be addressed by both the employer community and Congress it should be done in a much more organized fashion than passing a complex, expansive bill in the middle of an election year. The legislation would cover victims of sexual and domestic violence, which is defined to include “an individual who has been a victim of domestic or sexual violence and an individual whose family or household member has been a victim of domestic or sexual violence.” Those protected would be entitled to Title VII type protection against discrimination, FMLA type leave and a liberalization of requirements for unemployment.”

Jordan Barab’s Confined Space has many worthwhile items, as usual. Today, he has an item about the Mexican government’s reaction to the AP story about the workplace death toll of Mexican workers, a follow-up to an item that he covered earlier in the week.
He has an item on a new publication from NIOSH, “Does it really work? How to evaluate safety and health changes in the workplace.” And he’s also been blogging blow-by-blow coverage of the recent popcorn lung suit, in which he notes that “Workers in this country are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine. The health effects of chemical aren’t adequately studied, and when they are, the results are hidden — until someone notices that workers are starting to get sick and die.”

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